Crawford's Angels
by E.J. Lawrence
Summary: Update with latest chapter. Some info regarding Charles knowlage about the Yami no Games is on the table, and a twist that I hope no one saw coming regarding Yuugi and Seto, and no it's not Yaoi. Oh and thanks for the Reviews. :)
1. Default Chapter

Crawford's  Angels

Author's note: I do not own Yugioh. It is the property of Konomi entertainment, Viz Communcations, 4Kids Entertaiment, Created and Copyrighted by Kazuki Takahashi, and also Copyrighted by Toei animation Studios. 

Rated: PG-13 due to some language and some scenes of violence.   
Oh and one more thing there will be a OC...well you'll meet her. 

Summary: Seto Kaiba has lost his brother, Katsuya Jonouchi has never seen his sister, and Yuugi Mutou is trouble with a spirit that is connected to him in many ways. These three young men are about to embark on one of their greatest adventures, if only they can trust their new boss.   
  
Chapter 1: The Boss.   
  
The room was a small black box. Four walls, all painted in the same insidious dark green, with gold leafs growing up the walls to the dull gray ceiling. There was one small window with slightly dusty shades on the right side of the room, and a brown oak door in the left corner. Below the window and running around the room were hard cherry slated covers which touched the green carpet on the floor.   
  
A small bed, black dresser with TV, a night stand with brown lamp, and one closet finished up the room. On the bed sat a young woman of about sixteen. Her hazel green eyes stared hard at the screen of her small laptop that was propped open in her lap. She had pulled her dark brown hair up with two pencils, and pulled off her black reading glasses.   
  
She was exhausted, and threw off her head set. Working for her boss was a very difficult job, it meant long hours and little sleep. But it was worth it in the long run. After all, he'd saved her from the horror that she had been running from. Gave her a home, and much more, and now was her turn to repay him. After all it was what family did.   
  
The only thing was that she wished she didn't have to keep traveling as much as she did. It made her cranky, but it was nothing a hot shower couldn't fix. She smiled, and hopped off her bed, tossed her head set onto the dresser, and tore off her cloths. She was just about to step into the steaming hot shower when the lap top rang out. Grabbing a towel she wrapped it around herself and hurried over to the screaming laptop.   
  
"Yes, Sir," she clicked on the screen and saw it come up with a face she knew oh too well. The young woman strapped the headset back on saying, "I'm here. Something you need?"   
  
"My dear, I've finally found them..." said the man on screen, he looked positively radiant. The girl seemed puzzled.   
  
"You did?"   
  
"Yes, I've found three that would be perfect, and I need you to recruit them," said the man on screen.   
  
"Sir, didn't you say that when we first acquired...You know who? And remember how that turned out?" She looked worried, and bit her thumbnail.   
  
"Ahh, but I've been watching these three for a while now, and they are most certainly perfect for the job." The man smiled at the girl, "Now, could you please get dressed and we can go over the first candidate."   
  
The girl nodded, and in less then three minutes she was dressed and back on the laptop.   
  
"Here's the first one," a screen shot up on the computer and the girl stared at the picture of a young man about her age. He had stunning blue eyes, and reddish brown hair.   
  
"Seto Kaiba," she read the profile that he sent her. "Age, 16, Height: 6'2", Owner and CEO of Kaiba Corporation."-She looked at the man and shrugged her shoulder. "Doesn't seem like much to me."   
  
"Ah, laughed the man, "but here's the thing. He's a genius with technology and has been trained in several martial arts. He's a perfect operative for this organization."   
  
"You're sure," the girl said amused by the man. "I mean he's nice looking and all...but it says here that he has family, and I thought you didn't want that..."   
  
I've changed my mind," the man said with a huff. "It appears that having family is what drives this young man. His little brother went missing about a year ago, and he's been on a soul search."   
  
"So you think we can help him with his problem," the girl indicated. The man nodded. 

"How do you want me to approach him?" 

  
"Try to be nice, and get him interested. Tell hem that we can help him, if he helps us. We need him, and I know you can get him. I trust you."   
  
The girl nodded again and smiled, "Lucky for you I'm staying in his home town right now. Domino isn't that big a city, I'm sure I can track him down."   
  
"Good luck then," said the man and the girl nodded. He clicked off, and she stared at the boy's face wondering, _Will you really work out? I hope so, for both of us._


	2. The First Angel

Crawford's Angels

Author's note: I do not own Yugioh. It is the property of Konomi entertainment, Viz Communcations, 4Kids Entertaiment, Created and Copyrighted by Kazuki Takahashi, and also Copyrighted by Toei animation Studios. 

Rated: PG-13 due to some language and some scenes of violence.   
  


Chapter 2: The First Angel   
  
Seto Kaiba sat before his desk and hammered away at his computer. His mind wasn't on his work though, that was all meaningless to him since...he reached down instinctively to touch the card shaped locket that he wore around his neck.   
  
_Mokuba_, his little brother. It had been exactly one year that he'd vanished. One full year and Seto had fallen into a depression to end all depressions. The only thing keeping him going was the feeling that Mokuba was still alive out there. Still fighting and trying to get back to Seto. He _would_ find him. Deep down, he knew that he would do it. At the beginning he'd been optimistic, what fool would ever dare to try and steal his little brother. He'd rip their hearts out and feed it to them when he caught the bastard that took Mokuba.   
  
But days turned into weeks, and weeks to months...and now a full year had passed. Seto stopped typing and put his hand to his face. He couldn't think; there had been no word from any of the detectives he'd sent out to find his brother. Nothing at all to go on. No ransome note, no reason for Mokuba to go missing. He was there one day and gone the next like a vision.   
  
Tired, and completely exhausted from his inner struggles, Seto turned off his computer and walked down to the lobby of his office. As he passed through the doors to his waiting limo he spotted a blue Dodge Viper parked across the street. Something about it made him nervous, and he motioned to one of his assistants. The man nodded and started to approach the car, but before he even got within ten feet of it the Viper pulled out and sped off in the opposite direction.   
  
Seto watched this with his brow narrowed. He didn't like it. But he was too tired to care at the moment, and got into his limo. The drive home was silent, as was every thing now in his life. He wanted out of it, the routine of the whole thing. He wanted to be out there looking for Mokuba. But he couldn't leave. Not with five members of his board going after the company. He sighed and closed his eyes.   
  
Upon reaching home he walked in without even a hello to the butler that met him at the door. He climbed the stairs to his room, not caring if he had any dinner, and decided to go straight to bed. However, when he went into his room he found himself to tense when he touched the door knob.   
  
There was that feeling again, the same one that he got when he saw the viper. Someone was watching him, waiting for him. Seto was not a man to be scared, so he pushed open the door with a hard BANG! Inside he stared around the dark room, and suddenly saw something move in the darkness.   
  
"Who's there?!" he asked, his voice sounding fierce.   
  
"I'm here," a voice replied, and Seto saw the lights flick on beside him. He turned and saw a girl with hazel green eyes, and dark brown hair. She smiled at his stunned look, "Seto Kaiba, my name is Elizabeth Spencer, and I'm here to make you an Angel."

Seto stared at the girl that was in his room. She smiled again at him seeing his surprised expression. He looked her over to be sure she was really there. She had a pleasant face, and a nice shape. This strange girl was dressed in an orange business suit, and was quite petite. Slowly the shock wore off and it was replaced by a slow burning anger. He glared at the girl and spat.   
  
"What are you doing in my house?!"   
  
"As I said," the girl replied. "My name is Elizabeth Spencer, and I'm here to make you an Angel."   
  
"Yeah, well in about two seconds I'll make you a ghost!" He grabbed her by the collar and pulled her from the bedroom. "Now GET OUT!"   
  
"Mr. Kaiba," stated Spencer, her smile wavering, "I'm here with a proposition for you..."   
  
"How did you get into my house?"   
  
"You're butler let me in, I told him that I was here on business, which I am..."   
  
"I'm going to have to fire him." Seto gently dragged her down the staircase to the front hall.   
  
"You certainly have a grip," Liz said calmly when they stopped by the door. "But allow me to show you something before you throw me out."   
  
She pinched a nerve in his wrist and his hand went slack. To Seto's surprise she grabbed his wrist and twisted it just so, sending a ripple of pain up his arm and bringing it around his back. Spencer leaned close to his ear as she spoke.   
  
"Now, as I said I'm here on business, no more, no less. My boss has been watching you for a while now, Mr. Kaiba, and he has asked me to give you an offer that will benefit you in the end."   
  
"Huh," Seto growled. "Oh really, and does your boss tell you to go and attack people in their own house?"   
  
"No, but I don't particularly like being man handled so..." she released him and Seto stood up. What she didn't know was that he could have easily gotten out of her grip, and lay her out flat. But that would have done no good, he wouldn't have known what she was up too. Spencer pulled from her pocket a card, and handed it to Seto. "Here, if you are interested in learning more, just type in the numbers on the bottom of the card, and we can talk."   
  
Elizabeth headed for the door and paused before she left, "I trust that you will consider it, Mr. Kaiba."   
  
Seto shut the door behind her and looked at the card. It was a plain white business card, with a silver angel on the front. Below was a set of numbers, and a website URL. Seto sniffed at it, crumpled it up and shoved it roughly in his pocket. He wasn't tired anymore, and decided to get something to eat.   
  
***   
  
Elizabeth sat in her car, and watched the large mansion. She'd changed out of her suit, and now was in black jeans, and a black turtle neck. Her mind wandered back to the young man that was inside, and his eyes. His picture had done him little good; he was far more attractive in person. But his eyes, they were so sad and haunted, like there was nothing going on inside his heart at all. A huge storm of anger, and rage.   
  
The laptop made a beeping noise and she opened it up. "Spencer."   
  
"Well?" came the voice of her boss.   
  
"Not good, he freaked when I met with him," she explained and told him about the situation with Seto. The man frowned.   
  
"You should have done it in public," he admonished her. "You will try again."   
  
"I gave him my card, balls in his court now." She explained and he nodded.   
  
"By the way Croquet detected some low level reception in the area."   
  
Elizabeth hit two keys on the keypad and brought up a small screen that showed activity of bugging devices. She frowned, there was quite a bit of it.   
  
"I don't like this," she said to her boss. "Seems a bit strange that he...hold on, who's van is that?"   
  
Pulling up across close to the mansion was a large black van with the lights off. Liz watched as two men jumped out of the van. They were dressed completely in black.   
  
"Something's happening," she told her boss. "I think...this isn't good. They've got guns!"   
  
"Get him out of there now, Spencer," the man ordered. "If I'm right about this, then that boy's life is in danger."   
  
_No duh_, she thought and shut the computer down, and shoved it into a slim backpack that she threw over her back. She jumped out of the car and hid by the wall. The men were busy getting their gear ready, and she knew she only had minutes to get to Kaiba. She climbed up the wall, and jumped down, then raced across the lawn of the large estate.   
  
_I just hope I'm in time._ She thought.

Inside Seto sat at his kitchen table. He stared at the paper, there was nothing else to read, and found himself falling to sleep. His mind hurt, and it was wandering again. As he slipped off to sleep he started to dream.   
  
_He was back in the orphanage with Mokuba. There was a large decorated tree, so it had to be about Christmas time. In his hand he held a small gift from a person that he couldn't see.   
  
"Give it to your brother," the faceless person said. Seto smiled and nodded. He handed it to Mokuba.   
  
"Merry Christmas, Mokuba." And Mokuba smiled back happily. Seto watched as his little brother ripped open the brightly wrapped package. Then Seto felt something was wrong, he didn't know what, but he didn't want Mokuba to take the lid off the box.   
  
"Mokuba wait," he tried to say, but his voice came out dry like dust. His little brother opened the box and several ribbons sprang out and wrapped around him like coiled snakes! He yelled and saw that Mokuba had dropped the box. A giant black hole had come from inside and was sucking up everything in the room.   
  
"Mokuba," he screamed as he saw his little brother dragged down into the hole. "Mokuba hold on. I'll save you! Just hold on!"   
  
"Big Brother!" Mokuba screamed to him as his little body was dragged down into the typhoon. "Big Brother help me!"   
  
"Mokuba!" Seto called out, struggling to get out of the ribbons. It was useless, he was going no where! He cried out again and saw Mokuba claw at the ground.   
  
"Seto help me, Seto, Seto..." his voice echoed off and Seto watched in horror as his little brother disappeared into the vortex. The world went black but he still heard his name being called.   
  
"Seto...Seto..." said the voice._   
  
"Mokuba," he murmured, and someone touched his shoulder. He snapped awake and whirled around, grabbing hold of the person who touched him. To his amazement it was the Spencer girl that he had thrown out earlier. Her eyes were wide with surprise, but she quickly composed herself.   
  
"What the hell are you doing back in here," he shouted, and she shoved her hand over his mouth.   
  
"Shush," she hissed. "Listen you're in danger, I have to get you out of here."   
  
"I think you got that wrong, lady," Seto said angrily. "You're the one in trouble."   
  
"Don't be stupid," Spencer said and looked out the window. She slipped on a pair of sunglasses and pressed a button on the arm of the glasses. Using the night visions she saw three men wandering around the back, with sniper rifles. Suddenly they took aim and she grabbed Seto throwing him down on the floor. "Down!"   
  
The windows exploded, riddled with several bullets, as both young adults covered their heads.   
  
"Shit," Seto cursed and grabbed Liz by her wrist. "Come on!"   
  
"Where are we going?"   
  
"Down, below the mansion." Seto explained as he pulled her to a study and pulled at a book. Liz had to laugh that it was an original James Bond novel.   
  
"Oh what a unique choice," she rolled her eyes and chuckled. Seto ignored this and dragged her down to the lower levels. He let the retinal scanner allow him entry into the room. Liz gaped at the large computer that was situated inside the small room. Seto brought it online, and Liz pulled out her small Laptop.   
  
"What are you doing?" He asked hotly.   
  
"Patching into a network that can give you anything in the world you need," Liz explained, and Seto rolled his eyes. He had no time to play games. Rather he started up a defense program. The whole thing would attack the intruders.   
  
"Let's see them get past this," he said to Spencer who watched as several VR simulated monsters appeared before the men. Their screams echoed all around the house. But several ignored the beasts and broke past this first defense. The alarm system and electric shock field took over, but that did not detour the men. They busted down the door, and Liz went back to her computer. She typed in a few words and instantly the entire computer system was down loaded onto her small lap top.   
  
"We've got to get out of here," she insisted. Seto shrugged her off.   
  
"I'm not abandoning my house!"   
  
"But what about you're brother..."   
  
Seto paused and stared at her, "How do you know about..."   
  
"Mokuba..." she finished, and gave him a plaintive smile. "I know a lot about you Seto Kaiba, and I know that with my help you can find you're brother. You just have to trust me."   
  
Seto shook his head, and she grabbed him by the collar. "LOOK you ARROGENT FOOL! Those men have guns; they will kill us if they find us. And you will be of no use to your brother dead."   
  
Seto looked at her softly and said, "I'm already dead."   
  
"No you're not," Liz insisted. "Believe me."   
  
Seto shook his head, "I'm not leaving."   
  
"Even if I tell you that I have resources that can locate your little brother..." said Spencer, and she gave him a little smile. Seto seemed to finally take this in, for a second she saw hope flash in his blue eyes.   
  
"Can you?"   
  
"Yes."   
  
He got up and stated to the computer, "Self destruct sequence. Wipe the systems clean."   
  
"Are you sure you want to do that?" the computer said nervously.   
  
"Yes." The computer turned on a count down sequence. Seto grabbed Liz by the wrist again and led her to a wall, where he pressed a small button and a secret door was revealed. He explained to her, "Takes us back up to the outside."   
  
Spencer nodded, and followed him up to a trap door that he pushed up. Seto crawled out first, and then helped Liz out. She pointed to the wall. "We can take my car."   
  
They dashed across the lawn and scaled the wall, only as they got to the top they were thrown back. Liz's blue viper exploded in a ball of flames!   
  
"DAMN IT!" she cursed and Seto pulled her to her feet.   
  
"This way," he led her to the garage, and inside. There were several cars and vehicles. Seto grabbed the first set of keys he found and ran to a sleek looking motorcycle. He flipped Spencer a helmet saying, "Get on."   
  
She complied, and sat on the back seat. He was just revving the cycle up when the garage door opened and two of the men that were after them stood in the entrance.   
  
"Hold it right there, Punks..." said one of the men, and Seto smirked.   
  
"I don't think so," he shot out of the garage forcing the men to dive for cover as Liz gripped tightly around his waist. Shouts followed them, and Liz glanced back to see the van take off after them.   
  
"Shit," she cursed again. "Can you get them off our tail?"   
  
Seto nodded and turned down onto the freeway. He dodged in and out of traffic, causing several cars to veer out of the way. Seto looked up and saw that the van was taking the upper road that followed the highway. He knew that both crossed by a bridge. Smiling he said to Liz, "Hang on, I just got an idea."

"What do you mean?" Liz asked and Seto veered off the highway onto an exit. Spencer caught a glance at the sign over head. _Hanshi__Bridge__, straight ahead_. Liz gulped and held on tighter, and Seto shifted. Her grip wasn't all that tight, but something about her made him feel slightly uncomfortable in a way he'd never really felt. He ignored this and zoomed over the ash fault. The van, he was sure it was right behind them now, followed like hound tracking a fox.   
  
"Come on, you morons. Keep up with me." he said to himself and Liz glanced back. She ducked her head and pushed Seto down with her as the men opened fire upon them. The bullets spacked the ground and Seto weaved about trying to avoid them. These guys were not crack shots, but they were good. Ahead loomed the bridge, and Liz swallowed.   
  
"It's a draw bridge?"   
  
"Uh-huh."   
  
"You're gonna jump it?"   
  
"If I can, yes."   
  
"Okay." She gripped tighter and held her breath. Seto mentally crossed his fingers and zipped up the bridge just as it was rising. He gunned it, and the cycle shot over the opening and landed with a hard TUMP on the other side. Seto skidded to a halt at the bottom and they watched as the Van tried to make the jump, only to go crashing into the water below.   
  
With a mighty splash it disappeared under the waves. Seto kicked the bike into gear and they rode out further away from the center of town. When he felt they were far enough from the river, Seto slowed the cycle and pulled over to the side of the rode. He rounded on Spencer and demanded a full explanation.   
  
"I think my boss would be better equipped to explain," she said and turned on the laptop. To Seto's surprise the screen stayed blank but heard a voice say to him.   
  
"Good evening Seto Kaiba, I owe you a thanks for saving my assistant here."   
  
Seto stared at Liz and then asked the voice, "Okay, who are you and what do you want?"   
  
"My name is Charles, and I want you to work for me. I know about your brother Seto Kaiba, and know how your heart aches to find him. I know the pain of loss. That's why I want you're help. I want you to become an operative for me. To help people who can't be helped by anyone else."   
  
"And what does any of this have to do with me?" Seto asked annoyed. His life was practically ruined. Someone wanted him dead, and there was no where to turn.   
  
"Everything, Kaiba-boy," explained Charles. "You see if you help me, I will help you find your little brother. I mean you no harm, and I intend to give you all my resources to find him. My only request is that you work for me. Agreed?"   
  
Seto thought about this. If this man, Charles, was being honest with him he could use him to find Mokuba. But he'd never worked for anyone in his life; still he'd suck down his pride to save Mokuba in an instant. He turned back to the computer and said.   
  
"Fine I'll work for you, but we do thing my way. And you don't dictate to me!"   
  
"Done!" said Charles, and Liz turned the computer to face her. "Liz, my dear, give him the badge."   
  
"What badge?" Seto asked, and Liz pulled a pin from her pocket. She place it into his palm and he saw it was a solid gold pin in the shape of a Duel Monsters card with wings sprouting from it.   
  
"Congratulations, Seto Kaiba, you are now an official Angel." She said smiling at him.   
  
***


	3. Angel Two, come take a look

Crawford's Angels

Author's note: I do not own Yugioh. It is the property of Konomi entertainment, Viz Communcations, 4Kids Entertaiment, Created and Copyrighted by Kazuki Takahashi, and also Copyrighted by Toei animation Studios. 

Rated: PG-13 due to some language and some scenes of violence.   
  


Chapter 2: Angel Two, come take a look.   
  
Morning light streamed into the large summer house hidden in the villa area just southwest of Domino City. Inside Seto Kaiba was muttering to himself. He must have lost his mind to agree to this. A day before he was the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world, now he was stuck in a house with a girl he didn't like at all. All the while he was wondering about his brother, and how he was going to get his company back from the men he'd once trusted.   
  
In her own room Spencer was viewing a video feed from her boss.   
"So this is number 2 then?"   
  
"Hummm, yes. I discovered this lad while watching a dueling tournament last summer. Quite the pro...no?" said Charles, and Liz rolled her eyes. The boy on screen was short, a little over five feet, and had a wild hairdo that spiked up in the shape of a hand. Yellow bangs and a red colored border lit up his black hair. He was smiling happily, and around his neck hung a strange gold upside down pyramid.   
  
"Well, I like him. I think he has...potential."   
  
Spencer didn't want to argue with her boss, but she couldn't see what was so great about this boy in the first place. However she agreed to approach him. She headed down stairs and found Seto sitting in the den, slumped over on the couch, thinking. He didn't even look up at her as he spoke.   
  
"Where do you think you're going? You said you were going to help me find my brother."   
  
"I said that we would give you the resources to do that, but as of this moment I can't be bothered with..."   
  
He was on her so fast she didn't have time to block him. Seto pushed her against the wall, not hard enough to hurt her, but hard enough to make her realize that he could become a threat if he wanted to.   
  
"Listen, and listen good. I'm not here to play games, Spencer. My brother's life is on the line, and I won't be made a fool of, by you or you're boss. So you better watch what you say is a bother to you...because I can be the worst thing that ever walked into both your lives. Clear."   
  
"Yeah," she said trying to pull his clenched fingers from around her collar. Seto let go and Spencer composed herself. He was going to have to be watched very carefully she decided.   
  
"Now, are you going to show me what I want?" Seto inquired and she shook her head. He frowned as she added.   
  
"I'm not because I have a job to do; however there is some information that you can go through, if you want. We have files on several of your board members, I'm sure you'll find that interesting. Now, if you'll excuse me."   
  
She stepped quickly from the room and went out to a small fountain. Here she pressed a button on the side of the stone base and the ground slid apart to reveal a staircase to the lower ground. Here she unlocked a black Camero and started it up. The drive led to a exit out the side of the mountain right onto the main highway into Domino city.   
  
She scowled thinking of the past, if Kaiba turned out to be like the first Angel, well then hell was going to have a new demon to deal with. Her scowl changed into a sad frown as she remembered, and quietly thought, "Ryou."


	4. A Princely Occupation

Crawford's  Angels

Author's note: I do not own Yugioh. It is the property of Konomi entertainment, Viz Communcations, 4Kids Entertaiment, Created and Copyrighted by Kazuki Takahashi, and also Copyrighted by Toei animation Studios. 

Rated: PG-13 due to some language and some scenes of violence.

Chapter 3: A Princely Occupation 

Yuugi Mutou walked slowly home. His eyes were lowered to the ground and he looked rather depressed. So far he had made no friends at school. But that didn't matter; he had his Mou Hitori No boku, his other self, close to him. He'd discovered the spirit inside the puzzle that his grandfather had given to him for his seventh birthday. It took him eight years to finish the puzzle, and now he proudly wore it around his neck. The only thing was that it made the kids at school give him funny looks. 

"Hey, Star head," some of the boy's would shout. "What's up with that stupid necklace that you're wearing all the time?" 

"It's not a necklace, it's a puzzle, and it's not stupid," he'd told them. "It's very important, and very special." 

"Really?" said one boy with a smirk. "Let me guess you think it's like those dragon balls from the show don't you." 

"Well I," Yuugi would stutter to explain, but the boys would keep laughing. 

"He probably believes in Santa too…" someone would shout and Yuugi would hurry to get out of there as fast as he could. He liked school but didn't like the kids. The only places he felt welcome were in the game shop, and in the tournaments that he played in. But even then there were problems. Some of the contestants thought he was cheating, and they hardly ever talked to him. It wasn't his fault that his Mou Hitori No boku was so good at games. 

**_Aibou_** the voice asked him. _Is something wrong?_

_Huh? Oh no, not at all. I'm fine really._

**_You look upset. _**

****

_No I'm fine. Just a rough day at school, nothing to worry about really, honest. You get some sleep now, we've got a tournament in two days and we have to be ready. Right? _

**_Hummm_**_._** And the voice vanished into his mind again. Yuugi took a deep breath before he went into his grandfather's game shop. He put on a happy smile and pushed the door open. **

"Grandpa, Mom, I'm home." He shouted and his grandfather looked up from behind the counter. 

"Yuugi, how are you. How was school then?" 

"Okay, not much to tell." 

"Did you have fun with your friends?" 

"Huh?" Yuugi looked at a poster of the Black Magician, his favorite card. "Yeah tons. We did all sorts of things." 

"Really, like what?" His grandfather pressed and Yuugi grimaced. 

"Well, nothing that would interest you really," he laughed nervously and put his arm behind his head. His grandfather knew that he was lying but chose not to press him. Yuugi was a sentitive boy, and Sugoroku thought that he deserved to have close friends. Every night he prayed for that to happen. Yuugi threw his back pack over the counter and pulled open the small door to let himself go inside by the register. 

"Grandpa, why don't you take a break, and I'll mind the shop for a while. Mom should be getting back soon, and I know that she would love to have a cup of your world famous tea." 

Sugoroku laughed and ruffled Yuugi's hair, "Alright, but remember to try and be patience with the younger children that come in here." 

Yuugi nodded, "I'll remember."  

Sugoroku knew he had nothing to worry about as he ascended the staircase to the apartment above the shop. He smiled thinking how proud he was of his grandson. Yuugi watched him go, then let out a sigh and put his head down on the counter and covered it with his arms. He hated lying to his grandfather, but what was he going to tell him? That he had no friends. That the only person that liked him was the spirit that resided inside his Sennen Puzzle? That he hung out with a Namonaki Pharaoh,  someone who had no name and no past to speak of and who possessed him when he started to duel. Yeah he could see how that conversation would go. 

"Grandpa, Mom, there's something I've got to tell you." 

"Oh, and what's that?" his Grandfather would say in his normal jovial tones. 

"Um, well…I think I'm possessed." 

His mother would freak out or just start to laugh. She was worried enough as it was; Yuugi had caught her once studying the puzzle and she asked him if he was feeling okay. When he questioned her as to why she asked that, his mom admitted that she over heard him talking to himself, and that she was worried about him. Yuugi groaned, oh yeah that would work out real well.

***

Outside the shop Spencer pulled along the curb with her car. She put it in park and looked over at the laptop she had open. 

"Are you sure this is the place?" 

"Yes, I'm sure," said Charles in a sweet tone. "Why is something wrong then, my dear?" 

"No, it just looks so…" she was finding it hard to find a word to describe the Kame Game shop. The place wasn't rundown or old looking. Actually it was quite quaint, but very small, and she wondered why a reported, "Game King" would hang out in a place like this. She shook her head and laughed, "Rural that's all." 

"Rural?" Charles asked her and she quickly explained. 

"Well, mainly it's because you don't see such small shops like this in big cities." 

"I see," Charles intoned. "Still, that is where he is, and that is where you will go. Now go to work, Spencer." 

"Yes, boss." Liz turned off the computer and slid out of the car. She swiftly walked to the door and pulled it open. Inside Yuugi pulled his head up when he heard the 'Chingal-ching' of the bells that his mother hung over the door to alert Yuugi, or his grandfather, that someone had just come in. Yuugi was a bit taken a back by Spencer because she didn't seem like the type of person that would come into a game shop at all. Liz started to survey the cards on display, the posters on the wall, and the other import items that hung behind the counter. Yuugi cleared his throat, and Liz turned around and smiled at him. He blushed. 

"Ah, hello, welcome to the Kame Game shop. Is there something I can help you with," that was what Yuugi had tried to say but it had come out like, "AhellwelcomtoKameshop." 

Liz smirked lightly, but smiled back and said, "Um, I didn't quite catch that." 

"I said," Yuugi calmed down a bit. "Welcome to the Kame Game shop. Can I help you with something?" 

"Well, yes actually you can," Liz stared to say when Yuugi's mother came in through the door. She took one look at Liz then at her son, and back to Liz and finally looked to Yuugi –and his slightly red face. 

"A friend of yours Yuugi?" 

"Ah, no Mom," Yuugi admitted and his mother looked sad. She'd hoped that she could finally meet the people that her son hung out with. She was starting to worry about him. Yuugi had once dressed properly when going to school. Oh, he let his jacket hang open, and kept his collar unbuttoned, but now he was wearing a tight belt around his neck, a black sleeveless shirt under his school uniform, and at times she caught him putting on arm bands and other metallic materials. 

Liz stuck her hand out to Yuugi's mother, "Please to meet you." 

Yuugi's mom took it and shook, "And who are you?" 

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself to you Yuugi," Liz turned to him and smiled, pulling out her card. "My name's Elizabeth Spencer and I have an offer for you."

Yuugi took the card; it was a white business card with a silver angel, on the bottom was a website address and a set of numbers. Liz smiled at him as she leaned over the counter and pointed out the information. "See, this is the website, and if you're interested, you can talk with me using those numbers."

He looked up at Liz and then down at the card, and wondered if it was all a big practical joke set up by the kids at school. He set the card gently down on the counter, and nodded his head. There was something very pretty about the simple little card, and he didn't want it to be messed up. 

"Well what's the offer?" Yuugi asked her slowly. His Mou Hitori No boku was waking up and listening. 

_Curious isn't it, Aibou._

_Yeah it is. _

_Do you trust her?_

_I don't know? But she doesn't seem to be lying to me._

His mother looked down at the card, and picked it up. She examined it and then asked. 

"Where do you go to school, Ms. Spencer?"

Liz looked puzzled, but replied, "Namikin Private Academy." –she'd memorized several dozen schools within the area incase questions were asked and applied the best school to fit the situation. However she wasn't expecting the cold glare that Yuugi's mother was giving her.

"Oh, really, you go to Namikin Acadamy," She frowned at Spencer as she spoke. "Well I know exactly what type of girl you are. Now get out of my store." 

Yuugi felt mortified, "Mom, I don't think…" 

"Yuugi, I will not have those type of girls coming around here," his mother shot back at him. She looked at Liz, "Please leave." 

"I'm sorry, but this is not you're concern, Ma'am," Liz motioned to her son. "It's Yuugi's. And I think he would be quite happy with the offer if he just talked to me." 

Mrs. Mutou looked outraged. "How dare you even imply that young lady! Now get out of this store right this instant." 

Liz turned and looked sadly at Yuugi, her resolve surged, "Ma'am, I don't think you quite understand. This offer has nothing to do with sex…" 

"Oh really," said Mrs. Mutou sarcastically. She couldn't believe the gall of this girl. "Then what is it about." 

Liz took a quick breath and said forcefully, looking straight at Yuugi as she spoke, "Yuugi, I came her to offer you a chance to find some answers to questions that you've been pondering for a while. I know you're hiding a secret, and we can help you find the key to solve that riddle." 

"We?" Yuugi asked intrigued now. "We, who?" 

"I can't name names here," she indicated his mother. "But like I said if you just use the card, I can answer as many of you're questions as you like." 

Yuugi nodded, and Liz walked out the store. In that moment Mrs. Mutou grabbed the card off the counter and tore it into pieces. Yuugi cried out, "No, Mom, what are you doing?" 

"Getting rid of this trash, I won't have my son doing indecent things," she said and hurried upstairs. Her son was changing right before her eyes and there was no way she was going to let him get into any more trouble. Yuugi hopped over the counter and picked up the pieces. He was happy to find that the website and the numbers were still intact. Regardless of what his mother thought he wanted to know exactly what this girl wanted with him. 

***

Outside Spencer leaned against the building, and let out a sigh. 

"You shouldn't have used Namikin Acadamy, the girls there have a reputation for being very loose," Seto said startling Spencer. She turned quickly and then scowled. 

"What the hell are you doing here, you jerk! You were following me weren't you? How did you get out of the house, it's being watched…" 

"Yeah, I know," Seto said coolly watching her with a narrowed gaze. "Quite a set up you have there Spencer. Video surveillance all over the place, recording devices and other gadgets. Your boss sure trusts me; doesn't he." 

"That stuff wasn't installed for you it was there long before we even knew about you," Liz explained. "We just have the video equipment set up now. Making sure no one gets to you."

"Huh, and why was it installed in the first…" 

"That's none of your concern. Now tell me why you're here." Spencer glared at him. Seto looked away and smirked. 

"Simple, I needed some files so I went and I got them…" 

"Files…what? Wait are you telling me you got into Kaiba Corporation? Fool, idiot! Don't you realize that they are looking for you? Right now you we could be watched." 

"I thought you might say that, but isn't that why you're boss sent you to me first. To protect me?" 

_Oh he's good, he's very good,_ Spencer thought and frowned at Seto as he went on. 

"Anyway, the point is I got out of the house. I must complement you on the fact that whoever set the place up knows quite a bit about programs." 

"Knew," she said quietly. Seto watched her for a second, shrugged, and went on. 

"It took me longer then I thought it would, in any case you should be more careful when you leave, I saw exactly how you worked that switch to move the fountain. You'll have to fix that up." 

Spencer glared at him, at that moment she wanted to kick him hard between the legs, but shoved that feeling way down to the pit of her stomach. No way would she let anyone like Seto Kaiba goad her into a fight, "I'll have it looked into." 

"Good, and one other thing, the next time you go in to talk to someone who's mother is standing right there, don't act like you're God's gift to men. Because, quite frankly, while you're appearance is attractive, you'd never make it as a model." 

_Like you've ever dated any…_ Liz thought bitterly, but she nodded her head. "Fine. But a reminder to you Mr. Kaiba. I am in charge of this operation. Not you, me! You are working for us now, and do not forget that." 

Seto smirked at her as he turned and walked towards the parked motorcycle, "Are you so sure of that, Spencer. How do you know that you're not working for me?" 

With that he hit the clutch and rode out of there, leaving Liz standing in the twilight. She kicked a can that rolled near her feet and stomped back to the car. It was then that the laptop went off, and Charles face appeared to her on screen. She scowled at first and he looked at he with a sad face. 

"Something wrong?" 

"Kaiba," she spat. "He broke out…" 

"Of the house, I know. I'm glad he didn't have much trouble." 

"You wanted him to?" 

"Just a little test, I left a note on your files that directed him to return to Kaiba Corporation to retrieve some class A files that we had not looked into yet. I believe he passed with flying colors, don't you?" 

Liz made no comment. 

"And how is Yuugi?" 

"Other then the fact that his mother thought I was a whore, not much to look at. I still don't see…" 

"Patience, have some my dear, would you? I know he's not much now, but trust me, after tomorrow you will be glad that we have him in our ranks."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked and he pulled back his white hair to reveal a gold eye. Even though she'd lived with him since she was small, every time he did that it made her shiver.

"Let's just say I've seen what he's thinking, and I think if there was something to give him the right nudge, he'd come to us." 

"The right nudge, what do you…?" 

"Take a rest tonight, my dear, tomorrow will be another day." Charles said closing the link. Liz slipped down into her seat. She moaned and rubbed her eyes and looked up into the sky. 

"Ryou, why? Why did you have to leave?"    


	5. And the computer went Ping!

 Crawford's Angels

Author's notes:  Argh, sorry about the bad grammar. I was just reading over my last chapter and man, ugh. So I'm going to try to make it cleaner this time around. By the way; thank you all for the reviews. I really appreciate them. And for those waiting for Katsuya…well give me this one chapter and he's going to pop up in the next. Promise. ^_^  E.J. Note I screwed up the chaptering in the previous chapters it should be 

1: The Boss

2: First Angel

3: Second Angel

4: Princely Occupation

Ahead there is a section that is computer talk, so to know who's who: * - =Mou Hitori no Yuugi

 - =Yuugi Mutou

* = Elizabeth Spencer

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Charlie's Angels. It is the property of Konomi entertainment, Viz Communications, 4Kids Entertainment, Created and Copyrighted by Kazuki Takahashi, and also Copyrighted by Toei animation Studios. Charlie's Angels is owned by Spelling Entertainment, and Warner Brother's Pictures. Okay enough with the drivel, on with the show…

Chapter 5:  And the computer went…PING

"Well I hope that you didn't offend the girl," Sugoroku Mutou said to his daughter after dinner. He didn't want to loose customers, after all with the new game shops opening up in the area competition was fierce and every sale made that much difference for the shop. 

"Pop, I told you –she came in trying to get Yuugi to join some sort of…club," Mrs. Mutou explained as she washed the dishes. A look of distaste was on her face as she thought of the girl in the suit from that afternoon. "We don't need girls like her coming around to see Yuugi." 

"But, are you sure that's what she wanted?" Her father asked her gently. Mrs. Mutou shot him a look asking 'Are you serious?' He smiled gently and added, "After all Yuugi is an attractive young man now, and maybe she was too shy to honestly ask him out on a date." 

"Dad, that's absurd. Girls like her are never too shy!" 

"But dear, are you certain that she wanted…" he let off glancing over towards Yuugi's room. The door was open just a crack, and he figured that his grandson was there listening in on the conversation. Sugoroku loved his daughter, but at times he felt she was stifling Yuugi just a bit. After all, when he was the boy's age, he was already going out to see the world. He saw the energy in his young grandson's violet eyes, and knew that, like him, Yuugi wanted to have adventure –even though he always acted like a shy boy who didn't think much of the world outside the game shop. 

"Of course that's what she wanted," Mrs. Mutou huffed and put away a large pot. She couldn't see how her father couldn't see this fact. "What else is there? Why else would a girl like that come sauntering in here handing Yuugi a business card?" 

"It's become a rather hip thing to do now," Sugoroku explained to his daughter calmly. "I've seen lots of teenagers do that. Exchanging business cards so that the person they want to talk to doesn't forget their name, or number. Especially for the teens that go to Namikin Private Academy; I'm sure she's seen her father give out the cards before. And dear, is it such a hard thing to fathom that maybe a pretty young woman might have a crush on your son?"

Mrs. Mutou clucked her tongue and looked at her father, "No, but she was a foreigner too…" 

"So?" 

"So, it seems a bit odd that a girl who's going to a private academy, and whose not Japanese, and who probably has a pick of any boys at her school, would want to go out with my son," Mrs. Mutou said and her father looked troubled by her comment. 

"So you don't think your son could get a girl like that?" 

"What?" She gasped realizing what her father meant, "No, I do think girls like him, really Pop, I do. I just don't believe that this girl was being honest about her intention, that's all. Yuugi is a bright boy, and I know someday a girl will come and make him happy, but I don't think it is going to be that girl. Why do these kids keep trying to bother my Yuugi? Is it because he's smaller, or what?"   

In his bedroom Yuugi let out a small sigh and closed the door. He flopped down on the bed and grumbled. Why did his mother insist on treating him like a little kid, it wasn't fair! The girl, Ms. Spencer, seemed rather nice to him. She didn't act like any of the girls that went to Namikin; they were all pretentious fops, wearing lots of glittery jewelry, and heavy make-up. Resident _Kogals_ as high fashion girls in Tokyo were known, who shopped and acted very –flirty most of the time. Yuugi didn't see that at all in Spencer, in fact she'd been the exact opposite. Very polite, very honest, and pretty, but she certainly wasn't going to Namikin, that was for sure. So why did his mother have to be such a jerk to her in the first place. Yuugi frowned; he hated it when his mom acted so over protective of him.  

Yuugi rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. What was puzzling him was what she, Elizabeth, had said before she left. 

"Yuugi, I came her to offer you a chance to find some answers to questions that you've been pondering for a while. I know you're hiding a secret, and we can help you find the key to solve that riddle."

**Something bothering you, Aibou?** Yuugi's Mou Hitori No boku was back. He looked just like Yuugi, except that he seemed much older, more dignified, and there was something dark about his violet eyes. Yuugi sat up and let out a little sigh, making his Hitiori cock his head a bit in concern. **Something is bothering you then, isn't it? Tell me, what's wrong? Why such sad eyes in someone so naturally at ease?**

"I don't really want to talk about it," Yuugi told him, and sat on the edge of his bed looking at his feet. Hitori sat down beside him and tried to smile.

**Really, you not talking?**** Are you sure you are not ill? Something to do with the food, although I must say that you're mother's cooking is…what was that term that that one actor used on television last night…uh…da bomb.**

Yuugi had to chuckle at the way he said this, and smiled. Yuugi always found it a bit funny when his Hitori used a term that he wasn't to use to. Usually it would up sounding like very awkward in his native tongue. For the past year or so the Namonaki Pharaoh had learned Japanese by invading Yuugi's body and slowly taking in everything that he said. Now he could speak it fluently, but slang terms were just weird coming out of his mouth. Hitori smiled again at his Aibou, but Yuugi's slightly soured mood returned and he asked.  

"Can I ask you a question?" Yuugi's Hitori looked at him puzzled, "Did you ever feel that someone was acting a certain way just because they didn't want you to grow up?" 

**You mean your mother, I am right aren't I? **

"Yeah, my mom," Yuugi felt tears well up in his eyes. "I don't get it, why must she treat me like I'm still a baby wearing diapers. It's not fair; she made that nice girl go away for no reason at all. She wasn't trying to do anything to me." 

**I take it you mean Ms. Spencer then.**

Yuugi nodded quickly wiping his eyes. 

**I think…I think that the reason you're mother acted the way she did was because she was worried about you. She cares about you, Aibou.**

"You could have fooled me. Did she see how Elizabeth-jo acted when she accused her? It was embarrassing. Why must my mom do things like that?" Yuugi plopped down onto his pillow, while his Hitori crossed his legs and stared out the window. 

**Why do birds attack children when they try to help pick up a baby that has fallen from the nest?**

"Because they don't want the baby to be hurt," Yuugi's muffled reply came and his Hitori nodded. 

**Exactly.**** Your mother is simple acting like a mother bird; she wishes to keep you safe from harm.**

"Well I wish she would stop acting like that all the time. Does she think everyone's out to get me? Is that it?" He looked up at his Hitori. "Do _you think I'm that weak that I can't help myself?" _

**No I think you are very strong, but you're still young Aibou, and people are not always as they seem.** He closed his eyes for a moment then added; **I don't believe your mother thinks that people are all out to get you. What I do suspect is that she loves you very much, and is just worried that somehow this Ms. Spencer, will wind up hurting you. She fears that you are changing –and you are –into someone she doesn't know." **

"But I'm still the same," Yuugi insisted and looked at the two images in the mirror on his dresser. "Aren't I?" 

Hitori laughed, **Yes and no, Aibou. Everyone grows and changes. Over time you will change, both physically and mentally. Think do you still play with the toys you did when you were an infant? No, you choose more sophisticated games** **now, and have a deeper understanding of how games are played. **Yuugi looked confused and his Hitori gave him a slight grin, **See it this way Aibou. A year ago you dressed properly, or what she saw a properly, to go to school. Shirt tucked in, and such. Now you're starting to wear belts around you're neck, black tank tops under your shirt, leather pants, and black jeans. All things that you never wore before…**

"But that's all you, not me!" Yuugi stated and stood up on the bed, "I haven't changed one bit!" 

Hitori boku raised his eyebrow and smirked, **Oh really –tell me then, Aibou, one year ago would you have looked at Ms. Spencer the way you did today? Would you have saved that business card of hers? The one that smells of, what is it, lavender perfume?**

Yuugi blushed and then frowned at his Hitori –what was it his business if he saved the business card. After all the only reason he did was because she said she could answer his questions and help solve the riddle. 

**Well?**

"Well what?" 

**Would you have saved it, yes or no?**

"I suppose not," Yuugi reluctantly admitted slumping down on the bed. 

**See you have changed**, Mou Hitori No Yuugi said, and gave his partner a gentle nudge. **Aibou****, to her all the things I do are you doing them. So –in essence –I am you, to her at least. Do you understand?**

"Yeah, I guess so." Yuugi reached under his pillow and pulled out the scrap of card. Hitori no Yuugi watched him slightly puzzled as to why he would have put it there. "Hey, what do you think she meant when she said she could help us find the key. Do you really think she knows about you? I mean she did indicate that she knew about you." 

**Yes, and that has me worried.**

 "Why?" 

**Well, don't you think it's odd that she knows about me? Or at least knows that you're hiding something. ** Yuugi nodded, he didn't think about that fact. Why did Spencer say that to him, and how could she possible know about his Mou hitori no boku? After all, he'd told no one. Not his grandfather, not his mother. No one! **What I'd like to know is how she found you in the first place. She did say there was a way to contact her, didn't she.**

"Yeah, with this website," Yuugi explained to him. "I think maybe it's time I went and checked it out. We need answers and she seemed willing to give them to us." 

Hitori Yuugi nodded and the two sat in silence until they were sure that everyone had gone to sleep. Yuugi's mother came in once to check in on him, but he snuggled under the covers as deeply as possible, and she gently brushed his head. 

"Sleep well, my little Prince," she whispered before kissing him on the forehead and tucking him in with the simple blue cover. When Yuugi heard the door to her room click shut, he sat up and waited for a few minutes. Then, quiet as a mouse he slipped down stairs to the game shop, and into the back room. Here his grandfather kept a computer; it was a rather old model that took a while to boot up. Yuugi clicked onto the internet and waited –the computer was rather slow in performing this function so he had time to mull over the fact that he was breaking three rules. One was that he wasn't supposed to be up so late on a school night, even though tomorrow was Friday. Two, he knew he shouldn't be using the computer without his grandfather permission; and three, the fact that he was going to talk to Spencer and his mother had basically forbade him from doing so put him in a rather inopportune situation if he were to be caught.

Luckily he wasn't. Yuugi had to know why Liz had found him, and he wanted to know what the full offer was about. She had been so mysterious about it, and seemed quite serious too. There was something both wonderful and sad about her all at the same time, and it made Yuugi wonder just what type of person she really was. There was a _ping from the computer, and he woke from his thoughts. The home page to the Kame Game shop popped up and Yuugi typed in the web address that was on the card. When he entered it a simple white page with a silver angel appeared on screen. The entry page looked very much like a big version of the business card. Yuugi clicked on the angel and up popped a very simple website, whose introduction read, "_Here there be Angels._" _

Yuugi would have laughed if he hadn't felt so stupid. He clicked around for a bit hoping to see if there was any indication of anything other then Heavenly winged beings on the site. But after a half hour, or so, of searching page after page of nonsense about: "How to dress like an Angel." "You know you're obsessed with Angels when." and pictures, he had had enough and was going to click off. His mom had been right all along, it was all some bad joke. 

"Urshio probably paid her to come here and give me that card," Yuugi thought hopelessly. "And she seemed so nice too." 

**Aibou****, wait. Did you click on the last page?**

"No, why?" Yuugi muttered, "There's no point in…" 

**Don't believe everything you see here on this site. There's something…different about it. As if it's wearing a mask to hide it's true content from prying eyes. Maybe those who really need to find hope just have to look at the right spot to find it. There's something important hidden here, I'm sure. **

"Positive?" 

**The cards tell me so, and I trust them.**

Yuugi glanced at his Hitori then back at the screen and clicked on the last page. Like the other's it seemed very plain, except that way in the corner was a small gold angel that twirled in its spot. Yuugi clicked on it and, to his delight, up popped a login prompt for a chat room. The login prompted him to put in the number at the bottom of the card in the code box. Yuugi did as was told, and a whole new page popped up. 

"_Greeting Yuugi Mutou.__ Welcome to the Angels' Network. You are now being forwarded to your Task Master's computer. Please wait while we transfer you."_

"My what?" Yuugi yelped and tried to disconnect the program, but it was far too late. A chat room like screen appeared next with Yuugi's name emblazoned in gold on the white back drop. A small message box asked him to type in a message. 

 -Um Hello? Is anyone there? 

***

In the back seat of her car Spencer woke to the high pitched screeching of her laptop computer. She hat figured it would be a lot simpler to spend the night in the car as: a) it was warm for this time of year in Japan, b) she had forgotten her credit cards back at the safe house and c) she didn't want to see Seto Kaiba at all that night. 

WACK! Her head cracked hard on the roof of the Camero, sending ripples of pain through her head and down her spine. 

"Ow, ow, ow, Shit, damn it, ow! That hurt!" she cursed and rubbed her head, knowing full well that there would be a lump in the morning. She viciously flipped open the laptop and saw the prompt for the chat room had opened. "Huh, so he decided to contact me then." 

She typed in her code and was brought into the same room as Yuugi. Spencer appeared on screen in silver, below Yuugi's. 

* I'm here. Hello Yuugi. So you decided to contact me then. 

-Yeah, I guess I did. 

*I'm glad. I'm sorry I upset your mother. I didn't realize that my school had a reputation like that. 

-It's okay. 

*So I take it you have some questions…several I assume. 

-Uh, well Yeah. 

*Ask away then. 

-Okay, well –who are you really. I mean I know your name is Elizabeth Spencer and all, but you don't go to Namikin Private Acadamy. 

*Well, I might not go to Namikin, but I am the same age as you are. I have been privately tutored since I was nine.

-Well what do you want me for? 

*I want you to come work for us, Yuugi. We know you have some great skills, and are quite amazing. That is why we want you and your other half to come work for us.  

Yuugi yelped and jumped back. How was it that she knew about his Hitori? He nervously looked at the screen as she added. 

*Hello? Yuugi, please answer. 

-I'm still here. You just spooked me. How do you know about my Hitori no boku? And exactly who do you work for, and what do you mean by 'We can help you find the key.'?  

Now it was Liz's turn to panic. Charles had not mentioned how he knew about the Egyptian spirit, he only told her that he was a Namonaki Pharaoh, a nameless king, and that he was a mystery even to him. She swallowed her nerves and plunged in hoping to give Yuugi what he wanted. 

*We know a lot about you, Yuugi Mutou. That your grandfather discovered the pendent that you wear in Egypt while he was visiting over there, and that it was once a puzzle. That it took you a very long time to solve it, that the being inside is a king, and that he takes over when you are dueling at the tournaments. That your favorite card is the Black Magician, that your deck is mostly a spell master deck. That you like Hamburgers over any other food, and that you dressed up as a pixie for a school play…that you wear cotton boxer…

-Okay! Okay, you know about me, but what do you want with me? Why did you go to such lengths to find me? Why do you want me to work for you? And you still haven't answered my question about the key thing either!

*I work for an organization that specializes in dealing with cases that no one else can. When the police fail, and there is no government agency or group that can help a person, that's where we step in. Our group helps others that are sometimes in danger and are being victimized by something. We help those who can't be helped by the normal means. 

-Huh? 

*Let's put it this way. The organization that I work for handles cases that the cops, can't or won't touch. The cases that the person in trouble doesn't feel the government, or anyone else for that matter, can assist them. We help in solving rather –shall we say –delicate problems. Think of the A-Team only if it was mixed with Mission Impossible. The thing is my boss is organizing a special strike team, and he believes you have the skills to be one of the members. The first and last line of defense for the person. 

-So why me? This isn't the SDF?

*No, we have nothing to do with the SDF, Mr. Mutou. We have no link to any government at all. Consider us a self sufficient agency. Although we have worked with them in the past and have helped them with some situations. 

Yuugi swallowed hard, this seemed more complicated then he first thought. 

*As for the key. As you and I know your guardian spirit has no idea who he is, or why he's in the puzzle. While I don't know exactly what my boss does about him, or if he knows anything at all, our organization is willing to allow you use of our finest expects interpret and translate the hieroglyphs on that puzzle of yours. All you would have to do is work for us. 

-So why me then? 

*You have a talent that others will try to exploit. 

-Others? What others? 

*Others that are watching our every move and intend on using their power to create trouble on a global scale. 

-How do I know you won't exploit us yourself? 

*You don't. But let me assure you that we wouldn't do that to you or your partner. _I wouldn't let them! _

-Oh

*May I speak with your partner for a moment, please?

Yuugi looked over at his Hitori who was staring at the screen. He was fascinated by how quickly the words appeared. There was still a number of thing, computers for example, that Yuugi's Hitori didn't quite grasp yet. 

"She wants to talk to you." 

**Me? But why? **

Yuugi shrugged, "I guess she want to ask you something." 

Hitori Yuugi nodded and switched over with Yuugi. He stared at the computer and at the keyboard, narrowed his brow and said, **"How do I work this contraption again, Aibou?"**

Yuugi chuckled, He pointed to the keypad and the screen as he spoke, "Use the keys on the board in front of you to write a message. She'll read it when it appears on the screen, and then she'll write back to you. You tap the key's with your fingers. Okay?" 

Hitori Yuugi nodded and typed one key at a time –very slowly –to write out his message. 

*-im here wat do u hav 2 say 2 me?

Liz looked at the child like type. "This is the great other half?" 

*I wanted to ask you if you could talk your younger half into working for us. We want both of you so I'm here to offer you a deal.

*-a deal? wot tipe of deal?

*One that would be mutually beneficial for all of us. 

*-yuugi 2?

*Yuugi as well. 

*-im listening. 

*My boss believes that there may be a connection between you and Yuugi, as well as between you and my boss. As far as we know, neither you, nor Yuugi knows exactly what you are. All that we know, and all that you know, is that you may have been a Pharaoh in Egypt at one time. There is no record of your name on the book of the Dead, and that is a riddle in and of it self. 

*-true how does that consern u? 

*My boss has something similar to the pendent that you and Yuugi wear. He thinks that there may be a connection between these items and your appearance during this era. You know that both you and Yuugi want answers to all your questions. We can help you find them if you work with us. 

*-and y wood I want 2 do that? 

*Because it would also help Yuugi. 

*-how?

*By allowing both of you a chance that you will never get in this life time again. He needs adventure, you need answers, we need both of you for your skills. Are you really going to tell me you don't want to give him this option to better himself, and soar like he should? I could see the glint of potential in those eyes of his. You and I know he's something special. Will you help me show the world that special nature of his? Please.  

Hitori Yuugi looked at his Aibou, who seemed unsure. He turned back to the screen and typed, 

*-well think about it. 

He severed the connection then and Spencer swore, "Damnit, lost him again." She had only one more chance to get him to join, and she had to make it count. There was something in her boss's voice that night that sent a chill down her spine. 

"I'm certain they've sent someone out to watch him, and if they get to him before we can recruit him…" 

"They wouldn't try and…" She looked horrified when he nodded his head. 

"I wouldn't put it past them. To gain what they want they will do whatever they can…even murder." 

She shuddered in the black car, wondering just who they would send after him. Her dreams became nightmares and Liz fell into a restless sleep. 

* * *

Back in his room Yuugi lay awake in his bed and thought feverishly about the conversation he had just had with Ms. Spencer. Adventure, the word kept dancing around in his mind. But was he ready for the risks that would be ahead. 

**Aibou**?** **

_Yes? _

He was mulling over things in his head. These people could help him, and maybe even find out Mou Hitori no Boku's real name. If they could find the answers, then maybe he'd have a better understanding of his other half. And the idea that there was someone else out there with a item that had a connection, that might also have a spirit living inside it, made him both scared and excited. 

**I must ask you, are you considering this? **

_Why? Do you think it's a bad idea? If you can find out more about you then…_

**Yes, but is it safe? I worry that something dark and evil is brewing, and the closer that I get to finding the answers the more dangerous it will become. For both of us, Aibou, and I do not want you hurt because of me. **

Yuugi licked his lips, Liz –for some reason he now felt better thinking of her as that –had said that there were other out there that would try to get at him to exploit his talents. That they were dangerous and would cause trouble on a global scale, but would that only happen if they got to his Hitori? Or did it have to deal with getting to him? 

_I don't know, honestly. I know you worry about me, but don't. I'll be okay. Really. I just wonder what she meant by others coming after me…I have no idea what that means…_

**Rest now.**** Things should look much clearer in the moring…**

Yuugi nodded; after all he had a tournament on the weekend to worry about first. So he knew he had to be ready for that. However his sleep was restless, and all through his dreams a silver angel kept flying around. 

* * *

Outside, crouching on a limb of a tree branch, a boy with white hair watched Yuugi's house. His eyes glowed with a demonic fire as he smirked, thinking. "So, he's creating a new team. How very sweet that he should put Liz in charge of it. After all, she was always very good at making others do what she wanted them to. Ah well we didn't get the first one, but I'll be damned if we don't get the second one. Sleep tight, little Yuugi. Pretty soon you won't be doing much sleeping at all." 

* * *

Ah fun time Notes ahoy! 

_Kogals_ –in Japan there's a high fashion district. Right now I can't remember the name of it, but I'll up date this when I have the real name. This district is known as a hip and trendy area for teen girls that have money to burn and fashion styles to keep up with. Code named Kogals, these teens are very much large cliques that are into style over everything else. 

SDF –Japan's Self Defense Force. Since they can't have a military presence, although this looks to be changing, the SDF was created to deal with military like emergencies. There are several of these groups. Ground SDF, Air SDF, Naval SDF, and I think two others. 

Of another note, Yuugi does have a mother; she is feature in the Manga and the Anime. Although 4 kids cut out her most prominent scene, when Yuugi was talking to Yami in his bedroom in the episode where he went out with Tea on a date, she was listening in the hallway. You can spot her quickly two times. First is when Solomon (Sugoroku) wakes up after Yuugi defeats Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom and he releases the souls. She's sitting on a chair in the room in a pink skirt and sweater. And secondly when Yuugi comes to the hospital and runs to his grandfather. She's standing right next to Solomon. ^_^ So I am not at all making her up. 


	6. School days and the strange boy in white

Crawford's Angels

Author's Notes: Okay as promised Jonouchi shows up in this chapter. So Jou fans I hope I get him right, I'm sure you'll tell me otherwise. ^_^ By the way thank you all for the reviews so far. ^_~

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Charlie's Angels. 

Chapter 6: School Days, and the Strange boy in white

Morning light streamed in from his window and Yuugi woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and smacked the clock to shut it off. Glancing at the time he yelped, "Oh no! I'm going to miss my bus!" 

Yuugi grabbed hold of his cloths and pulled on his pants as he hopped down the stairs to the kitchen.

**Aibou****?** What are you doing?** Yuugi glanced over at his Hitori who was watching him struggle into his uniform. **

"I'm trying to get dressed," Yuugi explained to his other self as he pulled on his genken –the boy's uniform. Yuugi hurried down to the breakfast table, and grabbed some toast, and kissed his mother who was making some eggs. His grandfather was already eating, and was looking at the newspaper. Yuugi caught a quick glimpse of one headline. _CEO VANISHES: KAIBA CORPERATION FILES STOLEN_. 

"So, see anything interesting?" his grandfather asked. Yuugi shook his head. He didn't really know Kaiba Seto at all, only that he went to Domino, was a shoe in for valedictorian, was richer then anyone else Yuugi knew, and was in the same class as his friend Mayumi. He figured he would ask her when he got to school about it. "Strange. I always felt sorry for that boy." 

"Huh? What do you mean, Jiichan?" Yuugi asked as his mother shoved him down into a chair and insisted that he eat something other then dry toast.

"You probably don't remember when Gozaburo Kaiba's son passed away," Sugoroku explained to Yuugi. "Hit and run accident they claimed. Although some rumors were running around that it may have been a relation to Kaiba that killed his young son on purpose. It wasn't that long after that he adopted two boys, Seto and Mokuba Kaiba. I'm sure you've seen the eldest at School Yuugi." 

Yuugi nodded, he'd seen Kaiba, and avoided him. Seto Kaiba was very antisocial, and the one time he, Yuugi, had tried to talk to Seto he'd been told he was a pesky fly, and to leave before he was swatted. Yuugi had taken the advice and had not bothered to talk to Kaiba after that. 

"I never had the pleasure of meeting Gozaburo," Sugoroku told Yuugi, his face frowned. "But from what I've learned through friends that have he wasn't the nicest of fathers. He was down right cruel to elder Kaiba, and the younger one faired no better. There was rumor running around after Gozaburo disappeared that Seto Kaiba had something to do with it. But I think its nonsense." 

"Dad, don't go off with those wild theories again." Mrs. Mutou insisted; as she sat down to eat. "Yuugi, don't believe a word of it. Your Grandfather thinks that Seto Kaiba won the company from Gozaburo, and supposedly Seto tried to have him killed after he threatened his younger brother. But that's all rumors. Naturally Seto would take over after his father abandon his station, he was the heir apparent." 

Yuugi listened to this in wonder. He didn't realize how strange a life Seto Kaiba had lived. Yuugi glanced at the clock, and grabbed his backpack. 

"Bye, Mom. I'm going to go by Mayumi's after school, okay?" He kissed her on the cheek, and gave his grandfather a hug. 

"Alright, I'll call you then," his mother said. "And Yuugi, please, try to stay out of trouble." 

"I will, Mom. Promise." Yuugi smiled at his mother and ran down to the game shop, and went out the front door. 

* * *

From where he sat the boy with the white hair watched Yuugi leave his house. He grinned, and jumped down out of the tree, and started to follow Yuugi. This white haired young man chuckled to himself as he walked along the sidewalk, hands in his pocket, feeling up a deck of cards that he had collected. A very special deck, designed to scare and torment the person he dueled against, and it had a special ability. A set of cards that killed his opponent if a message was correctly spelled out, that message: DEATH. 

Yuugi walked along, not seeing the boy or realizing that he was being followed. He stopped at the corner where a group was waiting for the bus, and the boy with white hair was about to go up to him and make conversation when….

"YUUGI!" A shout made the boy turn and duck into the crowd, as a girl with green hair and brown eyes came racing up to the bus stop. 

"Mayumi-chan, Good morning," Yuugi said waving to the girl. The boy with the white hair frowned, this was a missed oppertuntiy, and his boss would not be pleased with him. What's more he would have to listen to that cackling idiot that had taken up as his partner deride him about how weak he was when it came to attacking in public. Yet somewhere another voice called out to the boy with white hair, and it seemed to whisper. 

_Stay your hand; I won't let you attack him like this. I won't._

**Who asked you,** the boy thought slipping away from the crowd and into the near by park. He grasped hold of something under his coat, and in an instant his hard, smirking face became soft and fair. He let out a long sigh, and started to walk further from where Yuugi and Mayumi stood, and was thankful that she had come when she did. He had enough blood on his hands already, and didn't wish to have anymore. 

* * *

"Yuugi, I'm so glad I caught up with you," Mayumi laughed sweetly. Yuugi smiled at her, he'd known Mayumi since kindergarten, and she was like a sister to him. "I've got to tell someone…guess what I won last night. You know that Avalon Concert that everyone has been raving about." 

"Yeah, of course, who hasn't heard about it," Yuugi smiled. Avalon was the name of a singer from the UK, who had been born in Japan, and was making waves all over Europe and the United States. She was known for her grace, but also for her wild stage shows. Mixing medieval music, with a techno-beat, and Jpop as well. It was a very unusual sound, but Yuugi liked to listen to it. He'd heard about the concert, but tickets were the hardest thing to get, and were virtually sold out, unless you had about thee million yen that is.

"Well, last night the radio station I listen to had a quiz, and I called in. I never thought I would win, but they asked such a simple question..." Mayumi beamed proudly as she said, "Yuugi, I won three tickets to see the show!" 

"Oh wow!" Yuugi said excitedly. "That's amazing Mayumi, who are you going to take." 

"Well you of course," she said as the bus pulled up and they got on, depositing their coins in the slot. "And I was thinking of someone else." 

She blushed slightly, and Yuugi smiled. He knew who she was thinking of, a boy at their school who went by the name of Katsuya Jonouchi. Mayumi had a crush on him for over a year now, but Katsuya had been so busy he didn't even pay her any mind. Yuugi felt bad for his friend; he had a feeling that Jonouchi would turn her down. He was a tough, but not a bad as some of the other bullies in the school; Yuugi had never seen him pick on the weaker kids, but Jonouchi had a reputation at the school, and Yuugi tried to stay away from him. Now though, for Mayumi, he was going to try to talk to him. As they reached the school, Yuugi and Mayumi got off, and kept talking about the concert. It was then that someone ran into –no more like _over him._

"Hey," Yuugi shouted as he was shoved down. Mayumi cried for him to watch out, but it was too late, the taller blonde boy collided with Yuugi and sent him sprawling onto the ground. Several of the kids laughed, and Mayumi helped Yuugi up. The blonde boy got to his feet, and rubbed his arm, he'd crashed onto it when he tripped over Yuugi. 

"Knock it off you Bozos," he shouted. "Bunch of jerks; think it's so funny. Well, I'll show you funny." 

"Hey Jonouchi, knock it off," shouted one boy. 

"Yeah, jeeze, we were only having some fun," added another. 

"Yeah, shoving me into the wimp here was a load of laughs," Jonouchi replied and looked over at Yuugi. "Hey, you alright?" 

"Yeah, just a scratch," Yuugi told him. Jonouchi nodded. 

"Right then, See ya." 

He got up to leave, and Yuugi glanced over at Mayumi who was watching Jonouchi go. She had a dreamy look to her brown eyes, but quickly shook it off and checked on her best friend. 

"Yuugi, he didn't hurt you did he?"  

"No, I'm fine," he lied; he had a nice cut on his forearm, and was going to have to go to the nurse. Mayumi frowned at him. 

"You're lying. I know when you lie to me, Yuugi. You get all red in the face, and look down at the ground," Yuugi's face went pink as she gently pulled up his sleeve. He winced, and she saw the long cut, and twisted her lips into a look that was trying not to be worried, when in fact she was. "Ow, that must have hurt. I wish those morons would not do that to you." 

"It's okay," Yuugi started to say and Mayumi shot back. 

"No, it's not. You're hurt. Come on, I'm taking you to the nurses office." 

Exactly twenty minutes later, a large amount of antiseptic, and a huge Band-Aid, Yuugi and Mayumi headed for class. Yuugi touched the area of the cut gently with his finger. "Ow." 

"Still stings huh," Mayumi asked, and Yuugi nodded. She shook her head, "Those jerks. I wish…I wish…I guess I wish that some how you could stand up to them. You're so much better then them Yuugi, why can't they leave you alone." 

"I don't know," he admitted. He didn't, maybe it was because of his hair, or the pendent, or even the fact that he was so short that got him into trouble. Yuugi had never been sure, but this had been going on since middle school, and he doubted very much that it would stop even after he got out of high-school. 

"I think I do," Mayumi said smiling broadly. 

"Yeah?" 

"Yeah, it's because you're cute, and you hang out with the cutest girl in school. That's why," Mayumi said and Yuugi grinned. 

"Bet that's it. They're all jealous of us Mayumi," Yuugi paused when they were by her class room. "Uh, Mayumi, can I ask you something really fast." 

"Sure." 

"I know that Seto Kaiba was in you're class," he started and she nodded vigorously indicating that she had read the newspaper that morning. "Well I was wondering, was Kaiba acting odd…I mean I didn't think he was the type of guy to just disappear like that." 

"Well," Mayumi said slowly thinking back. She didn't know Kaiba well at all, he mostly kept to himself, and she didn't bother to change that. "He was mainly a loner most of the time. Always reading a book under the desk, but still way ahead of everyone in class. It was like, I don't know, he was some sort of super genius or something. But I can tell you this much, he wasn't the type of person to just bolt out of anything. Not him, he was a very strict type of guy –but very quiet, and he always had a snide remark to say to you. I don't think anyone in the class liked him at all. Wouldn't be surprised if they're all glad he's gone." 

"Oh," said Yuugi softly. He suddenly felt bad for Kaiba, not having a good home life, and then being ignored by his classmates. Yuugi thought they were kinda alike, in some ways. 

"But the thing was, while he was rude and arrogant, and always thought he was better then everyone. Once in a while, he'd actually do something nice," Mayumi explained. "Like this one girl Nami, she lost one of her hair clips, and was going crazy looking for it because it was so expensive. Well a day later she opened her desk, and there was the same antique hairclip that she had lost. I think that Kaiba may have bought it for her, because I saw him hovering around her desk during the morning." 

"Really," Yuugi said surprised. "Huh, so you think someone got to him?" 

"Don't know," Mayumi said softly and whispered to Yuugi. "But he was getting into trouble with the Kendo Club. Something about pulling their funding, and from what I know, you don't mess with the Kendo Club. Urshio, the hall Monitor, he's been stalking Kaiba for a few weeks now. At least that's what I've heard." 

_Could it be that Urshio got go upset at Kaiba that he went after him? But that would mean that he…_Yuugi was thinking when Mayumi's voice cut in. 

"Yuugi," he looked up at her sheepishly, and she crossed her arms –frowning. 

"Eh-heh, yes, Mayumi?" 

"Yuugi, I know what you're thinking," she said, and looked at him afraid, her brown eyes wet with tears that looked ready to fall onto her cheeks. "Please, Yuugi, don't mess with this. Please. Rumor has it that Urshio has connections with a gang from Rintama, and they don't play around Yuugi. They could really hurt you Yuugi, and I don't want to see my best friend die, okay." 

Yuugi saw her wipe tears away, her older brother Sashio had run into trouble with gangs, and wound up in a wheel chair because of it. Mayumi slid down against the wall, and Yuugi gave her a gentle hug. 

"Alright, Mayumi," he said softly to her. "I won't look into this." 

Mayumi nodded and hugged him back, "Thank you, Yuugi." 

After a minute she stood up, and brushed away her tears, "Well, we better get to class, or we'll both be in trouble." 

"Right," Yuugi smiled, and bid his best friend a farewell. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as far a Yuugi was concerned. Class was the same as always, teachers coming in and out, and long time for lessons. During breaks Yuugi went looking for Jonouchi in hopes that he could stop him long enough to ask him about Mayumi. But Jonouchi was as slippery as an eel in pinning down. He moved so fast that Yuugi couldn't keep up, and by lunch time Yuugi was exhausted. He and Mayumi went outside to have lunch under their usual tree. Mayumi laughed a lot, and the two played several games. Yuugi was one of the few people who could actually make her feel better about herself. He had never told her but when they were in Middle school he had had a long standing crush on her, but that had changed when she told him that he was like a brother to her. 

"You win again, Yuugi," Mayumi was saying as they played Magic and Wizards. "I can't believe how good you are. It's like a whole new personality when you duel." 

"Well I just try my best," he told her. "Want to play a different game now? Go maybe…huh?" 

Yuugi and Mayumi glanced up as a shadow loomed over them. A very tall, hefty boy stood towering over the two juniors. He had thick, black hair that split into two horn shaped spikes at the nape of his neck, and bangs that hooked over his forehead. His face was cold, with a strong jaw, and a nasty looking glint to his sharp eyes. 

"Can we help you?" Mayumi asked cautiously. Yuugi recognized the person at once: Urshio, the hall monitor that Mayumi was warning him about earlier. He looked from Mayumi to Yuugi and broke into a sarcastic grin. 

"Yeah, you can. I was looking for a Yuugi Mutou," he said and Yuugi's other self took over. He crossed his arms, and legs, and scowled up at Urshio. 

"I'm Yuugi Mutou, who's looking for me?" 

Urshio chuckled, "I am, the name is Urshio. I'm the hall monitor at this school. I'm checking up on some of the…um…special cases. Would you mind coming with me for a minute, I'd like to have a word with you in private." 

Mayumi shook her head and her eyes went wide with fear. Yuugi stood up, and she grabbed at his arm saying, "Don't go with him. Please, don't go." 

Yuugi took her hand in his and smiled brightly at her, "Don't worry Mayumi, I'll be fine. I promise." 

She nodded, and he turned to Urshio who was waiting. The two teenagers walked along quietly for a while until they got past the basketball court. Here there were less people, and it was quite dark. 

"I hear you're into Magic and Wizards," Urshio said, and Yuugi glanced at him cautiously. "Heard you were pretty good too?" 

_What's this guy getting at?_

**I'm not sure Aibou. But I don't trust him at all.**

"I'm average," Yuugi shrugged. "But I've heard that Seto Kaiba is far superior in this game. He won the World Championship just last year." 

"Heh, yeah, wasn't that something," Urshio said, clenching his fist. Yuugi noticed this and made a mental note that that was a sore spot. 

"You play?"

"Who me?" Urshio laughed when Yuugi nodded. "No, that's my brother's job. Ah, here we are." 

"The back of the school," Yuugi said, looking around at the dank, ugly, alley. "Why bring me here, Urshio?" 

_Snik_, Urshio drew a large switch blade from his breast pocket, and grinned sadistically at Yuugi. He grabbed the smaller boy and shoved him roughly against the wall of the school, bringing the knife up to his cheek. Yuugi only flinched for a moment, and then stared coolly back at Urshio, his violet eyes burning with a dark fire that once cast upon a person it became fatal for them. Urshio though, did not know this, and grinned nastily at the younger boy. 

"I'm giving you a warning Yuugi. You see, my little brother is going to be in that tournament tomorrow, and I intend to make sure he wins…" 

"By what," Yuugi said, glaring at the older boy. "Intimidating the rest of his opponents? A cowardly move…"

"Heh, you won't think it's so cowardly after I slit your throat," Urshio said dangerously waving the knife near Yuugi's neck. Mou Hitori no Yuugi just grinned. "In fact you won't be thinking at all." 

Yuugi suddenly started to laugh, and it sent a shiver down Urshio's spine, "Is that the best you can do, Urshio? I thought you would have a better threat then that. Slit throats, I've heard it all before." 

Urshio dropped Yuugi to the ground, and the younger boy stood up, turned and started to walk away. 

"You better heed my warning Yuugi Mutou, let my brother win, or you're poor old mother will be weeping over you're grave!" 

Yuugi paused, turned his head, and said in a smooth voice, "I wouldn't be too sure of that Urshio; Because, if you're not careful, it might very well be your mother weeping over that open grave, and what a pity to loose a son before she has any grandchildren." 

***

Out by the tree Mayumi waited for Yuugi to return. She was busying herself putting away the remains of their lunches, when she noticed a boy with white hair standing just outside the gate of the school. He looked up at her when he saw she was watching and waved. 

"Hello there," he said in a very polite voice. Mayumi waved back, and noticed he was wearing all white except for a dark black trench coat. He motioned for her to come over and she walked over to the gate. Mayumi decided he had a nice, warm, smile. 

"How are you on this fine day?" he asked, brown eyes sparkling sweetly. 

"Okay, I guess." She replied and he laughed. 

"I bet. Eating lunch with your boyfriend then I see." 

"No, he's not my boyfriend," Mayumi blushed slightly. "He's my best friend though." 

"Then what a lucky best friend to have such a lovely thing to eat lunch with," said the white haired boy. Again Mayumi blushed. "You have a name?" 

"Mayumi." 

"Pleased to meet you Mayumi," said the boy. "I'm Bakura. Ah, tell me something, what's your friend's name?" 

"Yuugi." 

"Wait, as in _the_ Yuugi Mutou? Oh my, I never thought I'd ever get the chance to meet him. And he actually goes to this school." Said Bakura looking around as if he was trying to see if anyone was watching them, "Well then, I'll ask you to wish him luck at the tournament tomorrow. You will do that for me, won't you Mayumi." 

"Of course." 

"Wonderful," Bakura said, "Tell him I'll be watching. But uh, best off not to mention my name." 

"Are you a competitor?" She asked as he turned to go. 

"No, just a…_fan_," his face changed and became harder as he turned and left Mayumi standing at the gate, alone. 


	7. Chapter 7: Duel of Kings, part 1

Crawford's Angels

Disclaimer: *Look's about for contract* Nope not here, guess that means I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Charlie's Angels. Ah well…on with the show then. ^_^

Author's Note: Glad people are enjoying this story, 12 reviews. 0_O I've never gotten so many. *bows* Thank you very much. And yes, to everyone who is asking. More Seto, More Jou coming up, especially in this chapter, I promise. By the way, Mayumi is a character that was designed in the Anime version of the first Yu-Gi-Ou (Yu-Gi-Oh) series in Japan. She had a crush on Jou and wanted Anzu (Teá) and Miho (a friend of Teá's) to help her out. One more thing, I'm switching back over to Duel Monsters because I found out that the card game changed names in the Manga to that name. So it wasn't always called Duel Monsters but rather Magic and Wizards and then it was changed due to Copyrights because of Magic the Gathering. So back to Duel Monsters.

Rated PG-13, for some violence and language. 

Chapter 7: Duel of Kings, part 1

Yuugi walked back to the front gate. He had a bad feeling and wanted to hurry, there was something very odd going on, and he didn't want Mayumi getting into trouble with any of Urshio's boys. He raced around the building back out into the light, where he spotted Mayumi coming towards him. She seemed a bit disturbed, and puzzled by something. 

"Mayumi –chan," Yuugi huffed as he stopped by her side. "What's…wrong…you look like you saw a ghost." 

"Um, no," Mayumi said looking back at the gate remembering the strange boy calling himself Bakura. "I just met someone, and he gave me the chills. That's all." 

"Was it one of Urshio's goons?" Yuugi asked, his eyes crackled with intensity, and he could feel a pulse of power radiate from the puzzle. It was one thing to go after him, he could deal with that, but no one picked on Mayumi. No one. 

"No, it wasn't one of Urshio's boys," she told him as they walked back into the school. "I'll tell you later, we have to get back to class." 

"Are you sure," Yuugi asked puzzled by the change on her face. 

"Yeah," she smiled, "I'm sure. Don't worry about it. It was nothing." 

* * *

"So what do you know about Duel Monsters?" Spencer asked sitting down on the floor by the coffee table where Seto had set up his lap top. She had come back to the house to change. Charles had put Croquet on the job of watching Yuugi for now, and –since he was in school –Liz figured that if anyone was sent after him, Yuugi was safe. For now at least, after all, how could they get into the school without being noticed? 

Seto looked up, curious about her sudden inquiry, "Come again?" 

"I said, What do you know about Magic and Wizards?" 

"The game," he replied and she nodded. Seto smirked and started to laugh harder then he had in months. The last time he had a good laugh was when Mokuba somehow managed to squirt milk out of his nose and hit the butler in the face with it. Of course his little brother had been embarrassed, but still –after Seto told him it was okay –Mokuba had laughed along with him. "You really are the clueless one, aren't you?" 

"Excuse me," Spence spat looking dangerously at Seto. He just smirked. 

"I thought you said you knew all about me." 

"_I_ don't know **everything about you," Spencer explained tapping her pen on the paper that lay on the table before her. "My boss does, I only go on what **he** tells _me_." **

"Well then your boss seems to have made a serious error in what he's told you," Seto said coolly and turned his eyes back to the lap top. 

"Why's that?" Spencer asked sarcastically; mentally she was thinking of slapping that self serving smirk from his lips and tossing him out into the pool, but she knew that her boss wouldn't like it. Still just to see him wet and dripping, with a shocked look on his face would be fun. 

"Simple, I am Duel Monsters." Spencer gave Seto an incredulous look, and then let out a harsh barking laugh. 

"Bull…you **are** Duel Monsters. What the hell is that supposed to mean?" 

"It means," Seto replied not even bothering to look up at her, "that I know the game inside and out. I know everything there is to know about it. How it was made, all the major strategies, even which cards are the rarest and most powerful. I think I even know more then the creator of the game." 

She smirked; _No way could you know everything about the game Seto Kaiba. I know that for a fact._ But she said smoothly, "Oh really, well then, tell me exactly how you know all this?"    

"I've been playing the game since I was eleven," Seto told her, paused and looked up as if unsure how to continue with this. "My adoptive father didn't really like playing games; he took most away from me. But Mokuba…one night, he managed to slip some cards into my text books, and gave me the will to keep going and not break under Gozaburô's teaching. I joined the tournament circuit when I was thirteen, under an assumed name for a while, and after Gozaburô vanished I let everyone know who I was. It was a year later that I took the World Championship. Press went wild saying that it was amazing that a fifteen year-old kid could have beaten some of the best competitors from all over the globe. Heh, they underestimated me." 

"So that's it then," Spencer said stifling a yawn. Seto glared at her annoyed. So she thought it was boring, did she. _Figures for a bitch like her._ "And after this, you just vanish from the circuit?" 

"I had other things occupying my mind," Seto said bluntly and went back to work on the lap top. Spencer nodded; Mokuba had been kidnapped at about the same time as Kaiba had left the tournament circuit. A number of players were upset about this as they wanted a chance to topple the champion. But that was not going to happen if Seto wasn't dueling anymore. She glanced over at him, and asked. 

"What are you working on?" 

"Files." 

"The one's you stole…I mean borrowed?" Spencer said going over to his side to take a look. Seto nodded, and she scrolled down the page he had up on screen. "Last Exodus Incorporated. Odd name."

"Should be, I think it's a cover," Seto pulled up the net and typed in the name. No hits were found for it. "See, every time I try and find out anything, I get this. I've tried searches, rearranging the order of words, still no hits. So I think it's a fake." 

"What's the document about?" Liz glanced down the file and read over it as fast as she could. From what she could see it was a memo to someone by the name of Ganesly, from a person by the name of Lector. 

"Apparently my _associates_ were making deals with this company. They intended to usurp my power, and take over. Only thing is, to do that you need an heir of the Kaiba family." 

"So you think they kidnapped your brother then?" Spencer said pulling the computer to her side and typing in some words into the Dos program. 

"No, I don't," Seto explained and crossed his arms looking very sour as he spoke. "The thing is it has to be a blood heir and since both Mokuba and I are adopted…" 

"Uh-huh," Liz replied and brought up a program onto the screen. 

"What are you doing?" Seto asked looking over at the screen. The program she'd brought up looked like an average search engine, only it had several different additional items on it. Two that Seto knew were for hacking into data bases, the other four he wasn't sure about, but they seemed very odd to have on a basic searching tool. 

"This," she indicated the server, "was created by a friend of mine a while back ago. Well actually he had the idea; our techs did all the work. But to make a long story short, it's a program that will see if there are any matching business that link to your Last Exodus Inc. Usually with covers the business will keep using a similar name in order for it's investors to keep track of it, especially if it's in the financial racket." 

"Hummm…." Seto typed in the name, and saw the program boot up its searching criteria. 

"It'll take a minute or two, so…you think someone else kidnapped Mokuba then?" Liz asked him. She noticed that when it came to talking about his brother Seto's hard demeanor broke down quite a bit. She wondered if that was going to be a problem later on. 

"Honestly, I don't know. What I do think is that if they did take him it's for two reasons," Seto said holding up fingers as he ticked off the facts. "One would be that they figure that they can use Mokuba as a ransomed to get me to change the business policy and make it so that they can take over the company without a blood heir present to sign the papers. The other, and this is the one that worries me, is that they may use him as bait to find out where Noa Kaiba is." 

"Noa Kaiba?" Spencer had heard the name before used by Charles, but she had no real knowledge of this kid or how he was connected to Seto. 

"Noa, was Gozaburô's son, his real son," Seto explained calmly as if he were lecturing her in a history class. "His mother left his father when he was thirteen, and she took him with. Gozaburô tried to find them, but every time he got close, they would run. I've even tried to locate them and let them know that he's gone. But I think she's still scared. Mind you this happened all when I was eight, so I have no idea if they are still together. He would be about twenty-one. Could be married for all I know. But if they need a blood relation, they may use Mokuba as a fake until they can find the real one." 

Spencer nodded, no wonder Seto was so determined to find his little brother. Then again it was almost a mirror of her own search; only thing was the person she wanted to find did not want to be found. Seto suddenly leaned over and grabbed the sheet of paper she had been writing on. "What's this?"

"A note," Liz explained not paying attention to him and restarting the search again because no hits came up. 

"To who?" 

"Yuugi Mutou," Liz explained and Seto's face turned from the perpetually cold stare that was plastered on there, to a smirk and then to a quick laugh. 

"Yuugi Mutou, that pesky fly? Why would you be writing to him?" 

"You know him?" Liz inquired. Seto nodded. 

"Yeah, I've seen him around at school. He once tried to talk to me, I shooed him off," He noticed that she has a questioning look to her face and added, "I don't **need** friends Spencer." 

"Whatever," she said casually, and grabbed the sheet. "You have your deck with you still, right?" 

"Yeah, why?" Seto asked as she pushed the lap top to him, now it registered several aliases for Last Exodus Inc. and was asking Seto to select one.

"Good, because tomorrow, we're going to see a tournament," she got up and headed out the door to the front hallway. "Oh, and I would be ready for a surprise. You know anything can happen at these things." 

Seto watched her leave. Things were getting stranger and stranger, and he was starting to think that he wanted out before he got in too deep. 

* * * 

"Hey Jounouchi!" a shout of his name made the blonde headed boy turn and look back. The small figure of a boy with dyed spikes, and yellow bangs came running up to him. He was small, and Jonouchi recognized him at once. It was the same kid that he ran into that morning. "I'm sorry to stop you, but do you have a minute." 

Jonouchi scratched the top of his head. If he waited he was going to be late, and he couldn't afford that, not when he was so close to being perfect. "Sorry…ah…what's your name?" 

"Yuugi, Yuugi Mutou," Yuugi told him smiling. "Listen Jonouchi-san, I wanted to ask you if you have a minute. I need to talk to you about something." 

"Look if it's about shoving you this morning, I already told you I was sorry, alright. So why don't you get lost, okay." 

"It's not about that," Yuugi tried again. _Boy is he being rude._

**Maybe not, something tells me that there's more to this boy then we think. Just keep calm Aibou.**

"So what do you want then?" asked the taller boy with a roll of his eyes, "because if it's money for the bus, I don't got none. Okay." 

"No, it's not that either," Yuugi said getting frustrated. "I just wanted to ask you if you…if you were seeing anyone…" 

Jonouchi raised an eyebrow, gave Yuugi a laughing smile, and shook his hand, "Kid, you're cute and all, but, I tend to like my girlfriends wearing skirts."  

"No, not for me!" Yuugi shouted, and Jonouchi jumped back, surprised that such a loud voice could come from someone so small. When Yuugi had calmed down he said, "It's for a friend of mine. She really likes you, and I was wondering if you were seeing anyone." 

Jonouchi, after stopping his heart from jumping out of his chest, shook his head, "What's it any of your business if I'm seeing anyone or not?" 

"Because I don't want my friend to get hurt," Yuugi said and Jonouchi rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for this, he'd been waiting for his ride for the past five minutes, and if they didn't show he'd be late. 

"Like I care," he said to Yuugi who looked surprised at the cold comment coming from the boy. "Listen, if it's that green haired girl that was with you this morning, tell her she's nice and all, but I'm not into having some clingy chick on my arm. Besides, if she really liked me, she would come up and ask me herself, rather then letting you do it for her." 

"She doesn't know I'm doing this," Yuugi said angry. How could Mayumi like this jerk? 

"Really," Jonouchi chuckled, "What are you some sorta mach-maker then. Is she so hard up at getting a guy that she needs you to go find one for her?" 

Yuugi was about to tell him off, when a car pulled up and honked its horn. Jonouchi turned to go, then paused, he'd been a bit harsh to the kid. After all he was doing it for a friend, something Jonouchi wished he had. He looked over his shoulder and said, "Hey, Yuugi, that your name?" –Yuugi nodded –"Right, well listen up. Tell your friend that if she wants to meet with me, then she's gonna have to talk to me herself. Okay." 

"Mmhum," Yuugi motioned with a quick nod and Jonouchi got into the car, and it sped off. Moments later Mayumi met him at the gate. 

"Hey, what are you doing out here, I thought you were going to wait for me by the tree?" 

"I…uh, had something I had to get cleared up first," Yuugi told her, the grinned widely. "Ready to go?" 

"Yeah," Mayumi told him and they started to head for the bus stop. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. While you were away a boy came over by the gates. When I told him I knew you, he said he was a fan, and wanted to wish you luck. He said to tell you that he'll be at the tournament, watching." 

"Really," Yuugi said, his smile brightened. He had never known he had fans, _Huh, well I guess they like you Hitori. After all it's you dueling out there._

**Don't be so sure Aibou, were it not for your skills I would never know how to duel with these cards in the first place. But I wonder about this fan. Why would he tell Mayumi? You would think he would want to stick around to meet you. Hummm….**

_Don't be so suspicious, Mou hitori no__ boku. I'm sure he was just being nice. Maybe he's shy._

**Yes, well…**

As they left the school, a boy strolled up to them, he could not have been any older then twelve. "Are you Yuugi Mutou?" 

"Yes, that would be me," Yuugi replied and the little boy handed him a note folded up. 

"Here, I was asked to give you this." 

"Um thank you, but who gave you this?" Yuugi asked, and the boy simply said that it was a lady wearing a leather jacket. Yuugi wondered what he meant, but the boy just smiled and waved good bye. As Yuugi left Spencer came out of the shadows and gave the boy a small tip. 

"Thanks, Miss," the boy said hurrying away as she thought. _No, thank you._

Yuugi spent the rest of the day by Mayumi. He visited with Sashio, who was in a wheelchair thanks to his run in with a gang a few years back, but was ever optimistic. He worked at a local community center and was always trying to make Domino a better place to live. Sashio had a great smile, and treated Yuugi like a little brother; he was always willing to talk to Yuugi about anything. At around six Yuugi started home, he reached into his pocket where he put the note and unfolded it. Mayumi had wanted to see it, but Yuugi joked that it was probably from some girl, and she started to tease him about it. Now though he was curious about what the note said. He pulled it open and read: _Yuugi_, I just wanted to let you know I will see you at the tournament. I want an answer to my offer, and I expect one by the time we meet. Liz__

He folded the note up and swallowed. Yuugi had completely forgotten about the offer, and now he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved with Liz. He knew nothing about her other then what she told him. But he knew she was going to be expecting a reply, and he was going to have to give one. 

*** 

Saturday afternoon Yuugi nervously paced the floor backstage in the waiting area for the tournament. His pulse pounded in his head as he went over all his combos. Already there was talk about the fact that Pegasus J. Crawford would be there to watch the proceedings. Rumor had it he was going to pick someone to be named the King of Games. Pegasus was the creator of Duel Monsters, and everyone knew he was the best outside of Seto Kaiba. Ever since Kaiba had dropped out of the dueling circuit, everyone was wondering who would be picked to represent Industrial Illusions. So it was making Yuugi doubly nervous. He'd calmed down when Mayumi and Sashio had come to visit, and wish him luck. Mayumi even made him a lunch, and Sashio teased him that his sister had a crush on him. Yuugi just laughed at this, he knew that Mayumi's heart was only going out to Katsuya Jonouchi, and he wanted so much to make her happy. He hoped that after the tournament he could find out where Jonouchi lived and he and Mayumi could go over and she could ask him, Katsuya, to the concert. 

"Attention Duelist," a speaker announced. "Would the following participant please come up to the Special seating area, Yuugi Mutou. Would Yuugi Mutou please report to the Special seating area?" 

Several other participants shot him a funny look as Yuugi walked from the room and up the stairs to the main arena. He wondered who would want to see him, but he got the feeling he already knew. 

***

_What the hell is taking her so long?_ Kaiba thought as he waited for Spencer outside a skybox. He knew that inside was the creator of Duel Monsters, Crawford. But he wasn't sure why she wanted to talk with him, when Spencer finally came out Pegasus was talking to her in low whispers, and she nodded. Then gave him a quick hug, and walked back over to Seto. Both were dressed casually, her insistence.

"Unless you want to stick out like a sore thumb, you'll wear jeans," she had tossed him a pair. The thing about Seto Kaiba was that no matter what he wore, even something as simple as sneakers, a t-shirt, and a pair of jeans with a black coat over it, he still looked extremely stylish. This was another thing that worried Liz, but she had said nothing when they left. On the other hand, she looked like most of the other girls that were attending the event. Certainly eye catching in a simple skirt and tank top, a star choker around the neck to draw the eye from her face, but she blended in. 

"So, what was that about," Seto inquired upon Liz walking over to him, he had stopped her near the stairs before they were to descend. She thought a moment then said simply shrugging. 

"He knew my father, they worked together," Liz explained and Seto looked at her puzzled. "Don't worry about it. I just went in to say hello." 

"Twenty minutes to say Hello?" 

"Hello, how are you, how's your family, etc. I had to make polite conversation. One of his assistance spotted me when I came in," Liz explained, she grabbed him by the arm then, and started to pull. "Now come on, let's get to our seats before the event starts." 

***

"Quit pulling," Yuugi heard a voice say as he came up the stairs and saw two teenagers standing at the top. Both he recognized at once. The girl in the jean skirt was Elizabeth Spencer, and –to his surprise and shock –the boy was none other then Seto Kaiba. He was about to say something when a third person, a man with a point on the top of his head –very mean looking and wearing sunglasses –came out of the skybox and over to him. 

"You Yuugi Mutou?" He asked in a thick, deep voice. 

"Y-yes," Yuugi stuttered. 

"I'm Kimo," said the man, "Follow me. Mr. Crawford is waiting." 

Yuugi glanced behind Kimo, but saw that both Kaiba and Spencer had slipped away from him in an instant. 

_If Seto Kaiba is here, and with Spencer did she have something to do with his disappearance?_

**It seems that way. This is very curious, Aibou. First she gives us this offer, and then Kaiba vanishes, only to turn up with her at the tournament.**

_You don't think…you know…their dating or something like that…_

**Like what? That they are sneaking around? No I don't think so.  Kaiba doesn't seem the type of person to sneak off with a girl. No matter how attractive. But something very odd is happening here. I don't know, Aibou. I can't shake the feeling that there is more to this whole thing then what we are being told.**__

_I know what you mean_, Yuugi quickly changed places with his Hitori and followed Kimo into a brightly lit skybox. Sitting in a large chair was a young man of about twenty-four. He had long white hair that hung down to his back, and framed his face, the left side covered his eye. He was an attractive man, and seemed very bubbly and happy. His brown eye watched Yuugi as he came in, and he smiled. 

"Yuugi-boy, welcome, welcome," said the man and Kimo bowed leaving them alone. "Please take a seat." 

"I'd rather stand," said Hitori no Yuugi, his violet eyes watched the man very carefully. He was dressed in a red suit, with a thin bow tie, and smiled in a way that made Yuugi sure that he was hiding something. 

"I see, very well," the man said clapping his hand and two other assistants came into the room carrying some food on trays. "But I always found it hard to eat standing up. I'm sure you know who I am." 

"Pegasus J. Crawford, the creator of Duel Monsters." Yuugi replied, shaking his head when offered the food. "What do you want?" 

"Being a bit brisk aren't you?" Pegasus said sadly. "I thought we'd have some, get to know each other time." 

"I've got a tournament to get to; I don't have time to chit-chat, Crawford. So what do you want," Yuugi frowned and crossed his arms. Pegasus still smiled. 

"Simply to tell you that Industrial Illusions has your back, Yuugi-boy," a man came over with a piece of paper and Pegasus wrote something on it then handed it back to the man, who bowed and left. 

"What do you mean, has my back," Yuugi inquired and Pegasus chuckled. He intertwined his fingers and sat forward in his chair resting his elbows on his knees. 

"Let's put it this way, Yuugi-boy. I think you would make one hell of a representative for Industrial Illusion. And I want you to know that we are backing you in this tournament. We are willing to pay for all your expenses, if you are willing to work for us as an elite duelist." 

"And just what is an 'Elite Duelist'?" Yuugi asked him growing suspicious of the man that he was talking with. Something in Pegasus's eye warned him to be very careful as he spoke. 

"It's a person who is placed in tournaments to, if you will, quell the herd. Keep down the number of high ranking competitive duelists," Pegasus explained and Yuugi frowned. 

"In short, I would be used as a eliminator," Yuugi turned his back and headed for the door. "Forget it Pegasus. When I duel, it's with honor. I'm in it for the fun of dueling, not because I want to make money." 

"As you wish, Yuugi-boy," Pegasus smiled and watched as Yuugi left his office. He grinned happily to himself thinking of a secret thought. 

***

The beep of her phone took Spencer by surprise, and she jumped, making Seto spill his popcorn. 

"What the…" he had time to say before several people told him to shut up. He glared at Spencer who was now on the phone trying hard to talk as quietly as possible. 

_Pain in the ass_, Seto thought sitting down again. He hadn't been in a dueling arena in a long while. Watching was far different then actually playing in a tournament. He found himself fingering his deck, something he hadn't done in nearly a year's time. The cool surface of the cards gave his body a rush, the want and need to go into battle and watch as his enemies fell before the might of his hand. He was lost in memories of victories that he paid no attention to Spencer who was talking feverously beside him.

"So I've got everything set up," her boss said sweetly. Spencer shook her head and scowled. 

"You shouldn't be taking so many chances." 

"I know, you're very much like you're father in that way," Charles said. "Now listen, I expect things to go as planed. So just for your own reference, you mustn't refer to me by my other name from now on, understand." 

"Yeah, I got you," she said frowning slightly. She knew the reason for the deception; she just wished it had not come to using such awful manipulation. And if the other found out about it, he might change his mind and leave them before they could fulfill the promise. Hanging up the phone she smiled at Seto. "Enjoying the show?" 

"No," he admitted and she rolled her eyes. "Most of these duelists aren't very good. I'm surprised they got this far."

"Just wait till the main attraction starts, these are just the prelims," Liz insisted and kept her cheerful attitude up. Seto just scowled and watched as a boy was taken out by a sea duelist by the name of Ryouta. He laughed loudly and grinned sheepishly at the audience. Seto rolled his eyes, and was about to go to get a bottled water, when the announcer shouted. 

"Next trial, "Insector" Haga verses Yuugi Mutou!" 

The crowd went wild, several sections chanting, "Yuugi, Yuugi, Yuugi." 

Seto sat back down, he remember when people would chant his name as well. Had they forgotten him already? The boy that came out on the right side had green hair and was dressed in a green jacket and a red bow tie. Kaiba smirked, _Haga__, that idiot. I can't believe he's still dueling. After all the times I kicked his ass. Seto glanced over to the other side of the arena, and saw a short boy with spiked hair that was bordered by red, and sharp yellow bangs. His violet eyes sparkled with an inner fire, and Seto raised an eyebrow. Now this was someone that looked like a true duelist. __I wonder, can this be the same Yuugi Mutou that tried to talk to me in school? But it can't be, he looks so…so intense. It's like nothing, not even death, would faze him. I wonder…_

"A word about our two duelist folks," said the announcer. "Haga is known for his expertice in Insect cards. He was ranked top in his division, and is known for his…tricks on the field. To quote one of his opponents, if Haga has any fans it has to be the dung beetles that he sleeps with." 

The crowd laughed and Haga growled angrily, "Why those…I'll show them who sleeps with bugs!" 

"On the opposite side of the field, Yuugi Mutou. This young man has risen through the ranks to become a very dangerous opponent. It's no secret that most think he's a shoe in for the title of King of Games. It seems the fans love him, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was to replace Seto Kaiba as the World Champion. Let's hear it for Yuugi Mutou." 

As the crowd cheered, Seto gritted his teeth. How dare they think that this brat with a leather fetish would ever replace him as World Champion? He'd show them, he'd prove he was still the top duelist. Seto sat back in his seat to watch the show. He smirked. _So let's see how he fairs against Haga. And then I'll see his weaknesses, and then I'll crush him. Usurp me, will you Yuugi Mutou. Well, you're about to find out just how dangerous Seto Kaiba can be. _  


	8. Chapter 7: Duel of Kings, part 2

 Crawford's Angels

            Disclaimer: Nope I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Charlie's Angels. Although right about now it would be nice to have some of that green running in. 

            Author's notes: Okay, thank you so much for the reviews. I've never gotten so many on a story. ^_^ *Extra happy.* By the way, I slightly changed Jou and Yuugi's meeting in the first part of Chapter 7, so now it reads that Jou teases Yuugi about his question of him having a girlfriend. I'm hoping I'm keeping with their personalities, even though I've had to alter them a bit to tell this story. I should also note that I'm not too good at the card duels yet, so I'm kinda winging it in a way. Card enthusiasts, you have been warned. 

            One more thing, as Uncle from Jackie Chan would say, I'm just letting you know that when the host or Hikari "Lights" talk with minds, it's with the italics while the Yami's talk with bold, and when it's italics and bold together they're thinking as one person. Granted the Yami side is more in control at the time. This is a just incase because later it's going to get tricky figuring out who's talking to whom. 

            Okay, On with the Show! 

Chapter 7: Duel of Kings, part 2

            Yuugi stared down Haga. The insect duelist's lips curled into a cruel smirk. "So you think you will beat me? Me, the great Insector Haga! Ha, that's a joke! I'd like to what a sniveling child like you can do against me!" 

            "Just wait and see, Haga," Yuugi replied as the duel began. 

Haga laughed in his annoying way, "Hyooooooooooo." And he set a Flying Kamakin #2 in attack. 

* * *

            "Impressive," thought Seto watching as in his first turn Yuugi had whittled Haga down from 4000 to 3500, and then bringing him down to 2850. Yuugi was smiling, a smile that Seto was very familiar with –the type a fox gets just before it devours an unsuspecting chicken. Haga looked less sure of himself. He set a monster in defense and then three cards in his magic and trap zone. To Seto's surprise Yuugi passed on his next turn, and Haga drew a card then set a monster in defense. Yuugi took his turn, set one monster, when Haga flipped up his trap card –DNA Surgery –instructed that all of Yuugi's monsters were now insect types, and on his next turn Haga played the Magic card Insect barrier. Yuugi glared at him as Haga laughed. 

            "Hoyooooooooo! Let's see you get out of this!" Then he set another monster in defense. 

* * * 

            Above all this the boy known as Bakura was watching with binoculars. He was up in the catwalks over the arena's stage where the lights hung; near him was a guard whose head lolled to one side. He grinned at the battle below. 

            **Humm –a pity that they're just holograms.******

_Why did you kill him? You didn't have to-you just had to knock him out!_

_            **Keep quiet you! I've had enough of your whining. **_

**            _I'm sick of you attacking innocent people!_**

**            Shut the hell up!** Bakura looked back down at the crowds and a sly smile crept over his lips as he spotted something of interest to him. **Ahhh –what's this? I spy with my little eye something that starts with a G. Heh, and it seems she's gotten a new toy to play with too. **

            The voice inside seemed to go quiet for a moment then it burst out, sounding slightly worried and unsure, _Y-you're lying! _

**No, I'm not –at least not this time. Bakura glanced down again and let out a smirk, **and speaking of lying –or should I say laid –heh, I wonder how much she's gotten out of him? He looks rather cold. Too much of a pretty boy, I wouldn't think her to go for that type; but then again she was with you, wasn't she. Whoops –no she wasn't, that was me. ****

_            You Bastard! How dare you even imply that about her!  You evil, vile, sick…_

**            Yes, Yes. And so much more; you even once told me I put the evil in devil. Such language from a proper young man. ** Bakura caught a glimpse of something, **Hummm…**

            _What now?!_

            **I can see down her top…they seem to have grown a bit since I last saw them…she still has very nice…**

_That's it, you perverted piece of filth. I'm taking over!_

**The hell you are! This is getting good. This kid –Yuugi –he's got something up his sleeve. Aw shit! That twit in the yellow glasses –****ratty punk –just pulled out a big ugly bug from his deck. And it's very strong too. Well if he's able to pull himself out of this damn mess, I'll be impressed. **

_Let me out! Let me out right now! Or I swear, I'll let our partner have his way with you the next time he's drunk and feeling  friendly. _

Bakura frowned and sneered out loud, "As you wish, Host, but I must tell you –it's a long drop…" 

            A sudden glow from under his coat lit up the rafters for just a second and Bakura's eyes went wide as he looked over into the oblivion. He wrapped his legs tightly around the railing where he was sitting, and gripped it hard with his left hand. While inside his Hitori just laughed at him. 

            **Heheheh and I know heights tend to make you very nervous.**

"You slime!" Bakura uttered. 

            **Yes I know. **

**            "Where is she?" **

            **Look around, I'm sure you'll spot her –got the best legs in the house. **

Bakura picked up the binoculars that rested around his neck, and scanned the crowd until his eyes landed upon the one person he thought he would never see again in his life. A sad look came into his brown eyes as he lowed the spyglasses, and said softly, "Green Sleeves." 

* * *

            "Make your move, Mutou –or does my Insect Queen terrify you that much?!" chuckled Haga. Yuugi looked up into the maw of the gapping Insect Queen. Spit drooled over her sharp fangs, and Yuugi thought. 

            _Gee, this thing would freak out anybody if it was real!_

            **True Aibou, but we will still win.**

**            _Right!_**

            "I draw," Yuugi said. Haga had weakened his Life points to 2210, but that was okay –he had this duel in the bag. Yuugi glanced at his card and smiled. _Perfect._

            He looked up at Haga and said sweetly, "Tell me something Insector –are you at all familiar with the ladies?" 

            Haga raised an eyebrow, "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" 

            "Nothing, just making polite conversation," Yuugi said to Haga still smiling, as he put the card in his hand. "But you do know what they say about insect collectors and bugs don't you?" 

            Haga stared at him mystified as Yuugi set two cards and kept on smiling as he ended his turn. Yuugi smiled in a way that sent a chill down Haga's spine. 

            "They say that female bugs are the only females that will go around them," Yuugi said as his violet eyes lit up in a way that showed a dark edge to him. "Although in your case, I'd say that the big bugs are used because you lack in other departments," –he held up his pinky to Haga, laughed adding –"I'm betting she's the only 'Queen' that will give you any action from either sex." 

            Haga gawked at him, and Yuugi laughed at the insect duelist's look of shock thinking, **_Now_****_, let's see if you loose your cool Haga, and take my bait…_**__

"Why you…" Haga uttered a curse word that would have turned most people's faces red. "Prepare to feel pain for your insolence! I'll teach you to disrespect me! 

            He attacked with his Insect Queen and Yuugi grinned. **_Wonderful, he couldn't have done it better. _**

            "Activate trap! Mirror Force!" 

            The Insect Queen exploded off the field. 

            "No!" sobbed Haga as his mighty bug vanished in tiny pieces. "My beautiful Queen, what have you done to my Insect Queen!" 

            "Beauty Queen in what? The Miss Homely pageant?" Yuugi taunted him. "I guess she would win first, but you probably could give her a run for her money…though I'm sure you look even worse in drag then you do now." Haga screamed in anger as Yuugi grinned, "And now, I activate my Swords of Revealing Light!" 

            "What? What goods that going to do you Mutou," Haga laughed. "I still have my Insect Barrier up and you can't attack me." 

            "Heh, that's what you think, Haga." Yuugi shot back, "I've been leading you into a trap –and now I can spring it." 

            "Huh?" Haga's eyes went wide as Yuugi activated the magic card Harpies Feather Duster, which cleared the field of all magic and trap cards that Haga had laid. Including DNA Surgery, and Insect Barrier. 

            "And now I sacrifice my two face down cards to summon my Dark Magician," Yuugi stated and he smiled a rather devilish grin. "And I'm equipping him with Sword of Dark Destination and the Book of Secret Arts. Which makes his attack 3200, higher then your remaining life points and seeing that you have nothing left on the field to defend you, you worm, Dark Magician, attack his life points directly with Dark Magic Attack!" 

            Haga let out a scream as his life points dropped to zero.

* * *

            Liz felt her jaw hit the floor, "Holy Crap!" 

            "Huh," was all Seto said. _He's good –too good. Humm, maybe it's time someone take him down a peg or two._

            "All you can say is 'huh,'" Spencer said to him with surprise. Seto shrugged.

            "Don't be to thrilled yet, Spencer; let's see how he fairs during the rest of the tournament. 

            However Seto soon had to eat his words. Every match Yuugi dueled in he dominated his opponents. Seto found himself shaking his head –what was with this kid. It was almost like he enjoyed tormenting the competition. He shuddered –Yuugi was going to be a hard opponent –but Seto Never was one to back away from a challenge. Every time they mentioned Yuugi's name he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth as the announcer kept saying things like, "Has the world at his feet." "Likely to take the title in the World Championship." "A younger version of Seto Kaiba." "Kaiba who? Yuugi's the hot new name." 

            _I can't believe the nerve of those bastards, he thought –he'd only been out of the circuit a year or so, and already they were talking like he was a has-been. Spencer noticed Seto's face; she saw the tension build up to the point of explosion. She just hoped her boss was sure of what he was doing. He'd been wrong once before and it had cost all of them. She didn't want to go through such pain again. _

* * *

            "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present our winner –the boy who everyone will someday know as the King of Games –Yuggi Mutou!" The Announcer shouted and the crowd went wild. Above Bakura watched all the action and he gripped the railing and shook his head. His Hitori was very entertained by all of this. 

            **Oooo.**** He's good. **

_            Yes I see that. _

**            You think we can get him to work for us?**

_I hope so; I hate to think of the alterative. _

**Not me. Something seems very –familiar, about that kid. I just can't put my finger on what yet. **

            A noise from his cell phone made Bakura jump; he changed again, and picked up the line with a "What." 

A cruel voice chuckled intently on the receiver, "Well, did you get the job done?" 

            "I thought I told you I didn't want to hear from you until this mission was over." Bakura barked harshly to the caller. The caller laughed and it made Bakura wince. There were many lines in the game he played, some he refused to cross due to his own morals –which were few and far between –or his host's own opposition to his actions would pause him. The brat had learned he could keep him some what in check, which put a crimp in his style. However, his partner seemed to have no morals, no qualms at all to his actions, and –beyond that –he was just utterly sick. His partner crossed the lines all the time –and Bakura had no real love for him at all. But he had to work with him because no one else would –they were just too scared to. 

            "Now is that any way to talk to me?" the caller added and Bakura sneered and gritted his teeth. 

            "Believe me, I'm being polite. If I were to talk to you the way I really wanted to _you would be six feet under, and** I would be dancing on your grave. Now, what the hell do you want?!" **_

            "Just to warn you that he's changed his mind," the caller said coldly. "He wants him dead now. Says he might be dangerous to us." 

            "He's a damn punk, nothing more," Bakura spat, "and until I hear it from him, I'm not changing the plan." 

            The caller laughed adding, "You sound so sexy when you talk like that. Must drive the females wild." 

            "And you would know about that though wouldn't you, being the type of _man that you are," spat Bakura and hung up on the caller. He knew that the psycho would be pissed off and that could be bad for him. But he didn't care. He had a job to do…Bakura paused as he started across the catwalk. Below he saw a group of teenage boys all huddled together in a corner. They all were wearing identical navy blue uniforms, and seemed very pissed off; a large one with pointed black hair that looked like he could bench press a small car –seemed to be the ring leader of this troop –and they were all talking in low voices. The two words he caught were, "Yuugi" and "Dead". _

            **Hummm…maybe I won't have to get my hands dirty after all.**

* * *

            Yuugi let out a deep sigh. It was over now. He'd won the tournament and was sitting in the darkened arena. His Hitori sat next to him looking quite pleased. 

            **An excellent job today Aibou; but did you really have to tell that one duelist his breath stank like raw sewage?**

_No, but I've seen him hassling the girls at school, and he deserved it._

            **A word to the wise, Aibou. Don't go picking fights you cannot resolve.**

            _I know, but I can't fight them like other boys. I hate fighting, but if I having you around has taught me anything, it's that I have to stand up to people –and this is the only place I know I can do that._

_            **I see. Just the same –beware what you say and to whom you say it too.**_

_I got it. Yuugi looked at the card he'd won in the tournament, Ties of Friendship. He liked it –and thought that Mayumi would like it too. But she always refused any cards he tried to give her, explaining that she felt that he earned the cards and it would be wrong of her to take them from him. Sighing, he got up to leave, when the lights suddenly flared on and a sharp cold voice echoed all around. _

            "So, you think you can leave a tournament without having faced the final duelist?! Pretty cocky of you, Yuugi Mutou. But what can I expect from a runt who seems to like to think he's as great as the World Champion." 

            Yuugi whirled around and looked up to see Seto Kaiba standing on the raised platform, icy blue eyes burning with heat and staring right into his. If looks could kill Yuugi would have been dead and buried three times over –but as they did not Yuugi said, "Kaiba-san, what are you doing here? Don't you know that everyone is looking for you? Why did you vanish like that? People are worried about you." 

            Seto laughed, "That's none of your concern. Now get up here and duel me so we can see who the real King of Games is, or do you just like dueling amateurs?" 

            In a flash Yuugi has switched and his Hitori answered in kind, "I accept your challenge, Kaiba –and if I win you will tell me why you are here." 

            Seto leered at him. Yuugi walked up to the platform and put his deck in the duel disk. He knew that Kaiba had invented the system they were going to play on, so he knew that the duelist before him knew exactly how this disk worked and Yuugi realized it was a rather large advantage for Kaiba. Two people watched as the duelist stood on opposite sides of the platform: Spencer from a seat near the sound booth near the middle of the arena, and Bakura –who was still hiding up in the catwalk where the shadows mingled with the darkness. Seto glared at Yuugi and laughed when he saw that Yuugi only came up to mid chest on him. "Feels like I'm dueling a grade-schooler." 

            "Shut up and draw, Kaiba," Yuugi barked and Seto smirked.

            "Sure, just one thing, Mutou," Seto narrowed his brow. "I want you to know, you will never replace me. No matter how good you get I will always be better. You think tormenting your opponents will keep you ahead –it won't. I should know, I used those same tactics. So let's see what you put into that deck –King of Games. Is it more then your smart ass attitude?" 

            Yuugi clenched his fist; who did this arrogant prick think he was –lecturing him like he was a child. 

            "It's my heart, Kaiba," Yuugi shouted and Spencer leaned forward a bit to listen. Kaiba blinked as Yuugi went on –resting his right hand over his heart. "I refined this deck with my Grandfather. He helped me, and he showed me how to put my heart into these cards. That's what I battle with Kaiba –honor. The honor and heart of my family." 

            "Oh really, you certainly didn't show much _honor_ this afternoon," Seto spat and held up his top card –a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Yuugi gasped, his Grandfather had one of those –they were incredibly rare and powerful. Seto saw his reaction and drew another two cards as he spoke, "Let me tell you something, Yuugi. You might think all I give a damn about is power –and yes that's how I built my deck. But I poured sweat and blood into it –mine and my little brothers. So I put my soul into this deck," –he showed the other two cards, a pair of Blue Eyes White Dragons –"This one is my real father, this is Mokuba, my little brother, and this is my mother. No matter where they are I still have their souls with me –and they give me strength and courage. So Yuugi, lets' see if your heart is stronger then my soul." 

            _Clap, Clap, Clap, both boys heads heard the noise of sarcastic applause and they looked around for the owner of the clapping hands. _

            "Wonderful speeches, Ladies," Yuugi looked up into the middle row of seats on the first level. He saw Urshio who crossed his arms and was grinning like a fiend. "Now I'm sure you'll both make some passionate statement about how some tragedy made you the way you are." 

            Seto shot Urshio a look of anger and yelled, "Who the hell are _you? Not that I care, but I don't like being bothered by asses before I duel." _

            Urshio just smirked and Seto looked at Yuugi asking, "One of your friends?" 

            "No, he's Urshio –a hall monitor at the school –nothing more then a bastard. He's been threatening duelists as school so his brother would win this tournament," Yuugi explained and Seto said, rolling his eyes. 

           "I see; so nothing more then a jealous wannabe. Figures," He looked up at Urshio and said calmly, crossing his arms. "Hey –Urshio –if your hanging around looking for a ride, I'm sure the garbage men should be here by morning; they can take you back to the dump you crawled away from." 

            Urshio smirked, "Tough talk from a pretty boy. I'm sure my crew will like messing up your good looks." 

            "Heh, I'd like to see them come close to even trying to touch me," Seto sneered back. Urshio took this as a challenge and looked at Yuugi. 

            "You might want to shut your girlfriend up; he runs his mouth a bit too much." 

            Yuugi let out a barking laugh, "Humph, sorry to say I can't keep him quiet even if I wanted to. Besides he's right, I'm the only one who can touch him –of course if you want to cop a feel –you'll have to pay triple the price I usually ask for. But here's the thing, I don't think I want you touching him, and besides, you'll have to go through me first." 

            Seto shot him a dirty look –but he knew that Yuugi was playing mind games with Urshio. _Maybe he's smarter then he looks._

            Urshio's face twisted into a horrid rage filled visage. He screamed, "Get them! Break their faces, and their backs. I want 'em dead!" 

            All at once a large group of big heavy set goons surrounded Yuugi and Seto. They forced Yuugi and Seto back to back and created a tight circle around them. 

            _This is bad, Yuugi thought, a look of worry flashed in his eyes. _

            **Hold strong Aibou.**

            _I'll try…_

            Seto looked around –_Where the hell is Spencer? Did they get to her first?_

            He needed her, she was the only reason he was able to conduct his search for Mokuba –if she was hurt, or worse, and it cost him time to search for his little brother, he'd kick and everyone of their asses straight to hell. They were at a disadvantage, Seto counted four to one, and –while he knew he could hold his own –he wasn't so sure about his reluctant partner. 

            "Yuugi, stay out of my way –I don't nee you to get hurt," Seto instructed Yuugi as he took a fighting stance. 

            "I don't need your help, Kaiba," Yuugi said –his voice tense, he didn't need his Aibou getting hurt. But he knew that this was not going to be a fair fight –and would get dirty fast. 

            "Just keep out of my way!" Kaiba stated as a tall, beefy boy attacked him. Seto blocked the punch and used the boy's momentum to send him flying into one of his comrades. If there was one thing he had Gozaburô to thank for, it was the many defense classes and lessons that he'd been forced to take as a child. It was suppose to build him up mentally and physically, creating a wall that no one would be able to break. But like all walls this one had several chips and weak points, and if you hit those weak points, you could knock down that wall. Meanwhile Yuugi dodged a punch by one of the goons on his left and maneuvered away from a right hook. Unlike Kaiba, Yuugi was not built for attacking –but he was small, and fast, and it gave him a way to keep the goons from landing punches. But he knew he couldn't keep it up for very long. He was already tired from the tournament, and this would only make his host body exhausted. 

            Seto wasn't fairing any better. He'd kept the large group from landing any solid punches, but there were more then he could handle. 

            "Yuugi," he called out, catching one with a well placed high kick to the jaw. He couldn't see the smaller spiked headed boy. 

            "Here," Yuugi's voice yelled to Seto. Then he saw a large figure loom out behind Kaiba, and he yelled, "Kaiba –behind you!" 

            Seto was able to dodge the blow in time, rolled and came up along side the moron that had tried to jump him, and planted a hard low kick to the guy's right side; Seto heard the crack of the guy's ribs and thought, "Another one down –a million more to go –great." 

            He turned to call thanks to Yuugi for warning him, when he saw that the small boy was being herded into a trap. Two goons were charging him from the sides, and one from the front –and he was backed into a corner. Yuugi's brow narrowed, he wasn't sure which way to go and the other two were charging him at full speed.

            "Yuugi, Jump!" Kaiba called out as he blocked another blow to his head –this was getting annoying. Yuugi leapt into the air and the trio collided –as the young King of Games crashed down upon the pile rather inelegantly on his rear-end. 

            _Ow, Yuugi thought but muttered, "Thanks Kaiba." _

            "Whatever," Seto replied and finished off a goon with a left to the jaw; Yuugi –on his side –dove under the legs of the very last member of Urshio's crew. He hooked the guy's ankles with his, and twisted his body around, taking the larger boy off his feet and sending him crashing, face first, down to the platform with a _splat. The only thing, he hurt his calves in the process. Yuugi got into a kneeling position, and winced. Suddenly someone grabbed him by the hair and yanked him off his feet. He glanced up and barely had time to register a look of deep rage that was plastered on the hall monitor's face. _

            "Urshio," Yuugi tried to say, and was hit hard in the jaw by a strong left. 

            _Shit, Seto though and tried to get over to where the large bastard was beating on Yuugi. But Seto was grabbed by the ankles and hauled to the ground by several of Urshio's men who dog piled upon him, effectively keeping him in place. "Yuugi –Damnit you asses –he's going to kill him." _

            "Right you are, lover boy," Urshio said pulling a long blade from his pocket and picked up the injured Yuugi by his hair again. "Should have listened to me runt, now you're going to die." 

            _BAM, a whole host of spot lights flashed on and focused right into Urshio's eyes, blinding him. Urshio let out a yelp, dropping the knife and Yuugi at the same time. Yuugi made a grab for it. He looked up into the lighting and sound booth as a voice yelled. "Get off him now, or I'll drop a two ton light rigging on your boss's head. And I really don't think you want to be caked in his splatter." _

            **_Liz_, Yuugi thought as the boys nervously moved off of Seto, who got up and proceeded to kick, punch, and whack the shit out of each and everyone of them. When he was sure that they were all out, he focused his attention on Urshio, saying, "You're next!" **

            "No. He's mine Kaiba," Yuugi stated calmly and pulled out his cards. "I want to play with him first." 

* * *

            From where she had been watching Liz gnashed her teeth. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Whoever this Urshio was he had made a mistake in messing with Seto and Yuugi. To say she was impressed was being kind –there were no words to actually express what she was thinking; but Spencer was pleased to see that the duo were working as a team –even though their styles were almost incompatible. She could have stopped it, but she had to know how well they could function if there was no one coming to the rescue, and if they could improvise with each other. They proved themselves with flying colors. 

            But watching them she felt guilty –and she started down to help, when she noticed three figures slip into the sound and light booth. Torn between protecting her allies, and her own nagging feeling of immediate danger, Spencer chose to follow the figures into the booth. 

            "Heh, check this out Yoshi," said a lanky boy with shades. Before the trio was the main control panel to the arena's lighting and sound systems. "Hehe. We can do a lotta damage with this…" 

            "I assume you boys have some working knowledge and skill to operate that," a voice said behind them. The trio turned to gawp at the doorway where they faced Spencer, who was standing –arms crossed –looking very dangerous. Her eyes were narrowed, "Because, if you don't, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Or I can just throw you out. Your choice." 

            The boy with the shades let out a loud laugh, "Look guys –it's the securities attack dog." 

            "Fine legs on that little bitch, though," Yoshi –a black haired boy with a penchant for trying to sneak peeks up girls' skirts –added, eyeing Spencer all over. He liked what he saw. 

            "Humph," she chortled, "So I see you've chosen door two. Pity to say, the lady was behind door one –you jerks are about to meet the tiger." 

            "Hahaha," Shades laughed and flexed his muscles. A small thing like her against the three of them –she was a stupid bitch, wasn't she? "Okay baby, come on, and let's see what you go…Ahhhh Shit! GET IT OFF IT BURNS!"

            He didn't have time to finish his thought as Spencer threw a small capsule onto his face, which burst on contact releasing a slightly deluded form of hydrochloric acid. Shades' glasses melted as he clawed at the plastic. 

            "Shit, get her," Yoshi told the other boy and the duo launched themselves at Liz. She took a defense stance and blocked Yoshi's first few punches. She crossed her forearms creating an X shape with her hands open, and caught his fist. Liz smirked and kicked right, to Yoshi's head. He fell sideways and she used this to bring his arm around his back, breaking it in the process. She then slammed him face first into the metallic door frame, breaking his nose, and spattering blood all down his cheeks, lips and chin, sending several teeth flying as well. The second boy came at her while her back was turned, and she heard his feet pounding towards her, she back kicked –using Yoshi as a balance –catching her attacker in the abdomen. He crashed into the panel, but was still able to move, so she jabbed with her left, and swept kicked him off his feet, before he hit the ground she elbowed him in the face, breaking his jaw. He dropped like a wet bag of sand. Shades, was still clawing at his face, and she side stepped, allowing him to run into a wall with a sickening _thud. _

            Spencer looked down at the arena, saw Urshio beating the crap out of Yuugi, and there was no way for Seto to help him as the other boys were piled atop him. Without hesitation, she flared up the lights to maximum wattage and focused them all into Urshio's eyes, blinding him, and then yelled out her threat. She had to cringe slightly when Seto took his revenge upon the crew members who had dog piled on him. She reminded herself to never get him that angry if she could help it.

* * *

            "A game?!" Seto shouted to Yuugi who just smiled at Urshio. "You're wasting your time with a game! You fool, have you lost your mind? What good is a game going to do now? Finish him fast and let's finish what we were about to start." 

            Yuugi ignored this comment; he pulled out a stack of yen –about two hundred thousand in American dollars –and held them in his left hand. "Here's the game Urshio; we each take a turn drawing a card, whoever has the highest card wins. If you pull higher then I do, you get the prize money –and you may kill me. That is what you wanted isn't it, the money." 

            _The hell?_ Seto thought, _He really is insane. The fool –he'll let this bastard kill him! Well if he thinks I'm going to step in and save him his thoughts are very wrong about me…_

_            "Heh, fine by me," Urshio said cracking his knuckles. Yuugi smiled wickedly. _

            "However, if I win, you play a penalty game." 

            "Deal," Urshio said and Yuugi's eyes glittered as he grinned showing all his teeth. 

* * *

            _A game? He's cracked, Spencer thought looking down at the arena. A noise from behind and below made her glance over her shoulder. Shades was crawling towards her; she turned back to the booth's window, sniffed, and lashed out with a side kick that mashed Shades' face, and sent him clattering to the floor –minus some teeth. _

            _I hope you know what you're doing Yuugi." _

* * *

            **Hummm…Curious.**** Very, very curious.  **

_Hummmm…what? The youthful voice echoed in Bakura's mind. __Why the hummmms?_

_            **Apparently this boy is about to play a Yami no Game.**_

**            _What! No, he can't…he could injure that Urshio…or kill him._**

**Yes, I know. I wonder if he does though. I can't wait to see his face when his opponent drops dead before him. Remember what happened the first time you played it. In his mind Bakura saw his host shudder, ****so you do remember… That pathetic mortal didn't know what hit him until it was too late. **

_Shut up! Don't you dare tell me I killed him when you..._

**_            It wasn't my hand that ended his life…_**Bakura glanced over at the actions below, and scowled; **Seems to be that our young friend down there has a nasty streak to him as well. Such a predicament…to attack or not to attack, that would be the question, now wouldn't it.**

_ Are you sure he can play it?_

**No, I was just trying to see how frightened I can make you. Although…the pendent he's wearing…humm.  We need to get a closer look at this…**

_Why? Do you suspect…?_

Bakura shrugged; **Yes, but I can't confirm it –and if you don't go silent soon I won't be able to hear what's going on down there. As I said before –there is something very familiar about that boy –something ancient and strong. **

His host went still and Bakura leaned in for a better view of the proceeding below. 

* * * __

            "I go first," Urshio said and pulled a card from Yuugi's deck. He took a look and gave Yuugi a victory grin, showing his card. "Hah, Gemini Elves, they're at 1900. Beat that, Yuugi!" 

            Yuugi smiled confidently, but inside he was nervous. His deck was built around a Dark Magician theme. Which meant that there were more magic and trap cards in his deck then monsters, and he only had a few very high monster cards. His Dark Magician for one, and Summoned Skull for another, both were at 2500; but the odds of pulling them were slim. Yuugi took a deep breath and silently prayed, **_Please heart of the cards, guide me. Help me draw the right card._**

* * *

            Above Bakura suddenly felt a quick jolt of power course through the room as Yuugi pulled his card. 

            _What was that? His host was shouting at him for an answer and Bakura chuckled. _

            **A confirmation.**

* * *

            Yuugi drew his card, closed his eyes and hoped that it was higher then the Gemini Elves that Urshio held in his hand. If not, he was going to die, and from the look that Seto was giving him he highly doubted that Kaiba would step between him and Urshio's blade.

            "Well," asked the hall monitor with a sneer, "What have you got Yuugi." 

            _The imbecile, Seto thought –even if Yuugi pulled a higher card, Urshio would never keep his word. He pulled a card from his deck and held it loosely in his hand. Seto just hoped that one blow would be enough to knock the blade out of Ushio's hand. For one thing he knew that Spencer was watching and would kill him if he let Yuugi die. For another he didn't want to see the pointy headed kid to be killed. He had turned out to be a lot tougher then Seto had first thought. Even so –he would never relieve the World Champion title to Yuugi –he may have been dubbed the King of Games, but Seto Kaiba was the Master of the Cards –and no one ever take that from him. _

            _Yuugi, he thought silently. __You just better be ready to run._

 Yuugi glanced at his card and his eyes went wide, he let out a loud laugh that gave Urshio the creeps. 

            "Hey, quit that," shouted the hall monitor. "You freak, what's so damn funny?" 

            Yuugi chuckled, "The fact that I won, Urshio, and I did it with the help of my favorite girl –the Dark Magician girl. Since she has attack strength of 2000, she beats your Elves by 100. Not much granted –but it's still a hundred points more then your Elves. So now you have to play the penalty game!" 

            "What the…?" Urshio shouted as a dark fog rolled into the arena. Seto shivered, it was like the inside of a grave, only colder and far darker then he believed it could be. Seto glanced over at Yuugi and noticed that the odd upside down pyramid pendent was glowing. 

            _How is he doing this? It's gotta be a trick, but how?" _

* * * 

            Liz gasped as the purple-black fog took over the entire arena. Even in the sound booth she could feel the cold clammy hand of death that came with the fog. She shuddered recalling when she first saw such a fog –and knew what it meant. 

            "Yami no Game," she hoarsely whispered. No wonder her boss wanted Yuugi, he could bring out these powers. Spencer knew that this game was a far more dangerous game that Yuugi was playing then he even realized. She gritted her teeth in worry, if he couldn't control this, it could wind up killing them all. _So this is why you chose Yuugi. He's got the same ablities…but if that's so then that means the pendent is…Shit, If he'd been found by them they would have used it against us. So that's why you were so earnest about getting him to side with us. His power is even greater then…Oh Dear Lord! What have we unleashed?!_

* * * 

            **Ha, I thought so. He does have it!**

_I can't believe that there's three of us. This is bad. I'm sure he has no idea what he's about to unleash. _

**Who cares! Just feel the power it's...Bakura suddenly clenched his stomach and doubled over in pain. **

            _What's wrong?!_

**Shit, he's too powerful. He's building up energy. If he releases it someone's going to be sleeping for a very long time.**

_Shouldn't we stop him then?!_

**Are you kidding? And miss seeing that prick get what's coming to him? Not on your life!**

            _Right, it is my life, and my body that you're using. Mine, not yours, and I'm telling you to stop him. _

            "Too late," Bakura told his host. "It's already begun…" 

* * *

            _What's going on…What's happening? Urshio thought as everything around him began to warp and twist. Suddenly he looked over to where Seto had been standing and saw a rather frighteningly tall blue Dragon. It had glowing blue eyes, and sharp talons, and seemed to loom over everything with its mighty wings. Around it lay several bodies of dead creatures it had slaughtered. When it opened its mouth it let out a series of roars and screeches. Urshio screamed, terrified of this monster beast. _

            "Moron, what the hell are you screaming at?" Seto barked at the terrified Urshio. The larger boy was crawling backwards away from him and Seto walked closer. "Urshio, get up you piece of filth. I told you that you were next, and I meant it!" 

            The Dragon grabbed Urshio and he screamed out, he did not want to be eaten. Just then, as the beast brought him up to look him in the eye, Urshio heard Yuugi's voice say," Kaiba, drop him. I told you he's mine to deal with." 

            "Wrong, Yuugi. No one gets away with insulting me," Seto shouted looking behind Urshio. The hall monitor turned his head to look in back of him, and what he saw made him piss his pants. Oh, Yuugi was there all right; only he looked nothing like the small, scrawny, punk that Urshio had been beating upon moments before. No, this was Yuugi –King of Demons! His eyes were violet pools of molten lava that flared out at the edges and twinkled wickedly at Urshio. He had fangs and a serpent's tongue that slithered out of his mouth as he spoke. His hair was a ghastly sea of flames that crackled wildly, creating a crown upon his head, and all over his body shadows slithered like writhing cobras. This Yuugi walked towards him and Urshio decided he'd rather deal with the Dragon.

            "Please, help me! He's gonna kill me!" Pleaded Urshio and gripped onto Seto's shirt tightly. Seto looked at him with utter disgust as Urshio let snots run down onto his clothing. Seto lashed out at Urshio, knocking him away. 

            "Get away from me you piece of crap! You're more cowardly then a chicken, you misrable bastard. Sure you willingly pick on those who can't fight back, but when it's you who's in trouble you go running to the next biggest person on the playground. You make me sick. I hope he does kill you, because if he doesn't I will." 

            "No, please, Yuugi! Don't kill me," Urshio begged facing the demon king. For an instant Yuugi paused. He looked thoughtful –that was all Urshio needed. If he had to go he would at least take the demon with him. He lunged out at Yuugi screaming, "Let me kill you first!" 

            "Mind Crush!" Yuugi yelled and a huge blast of some unknown energy slammed into Urshio. He screamed, just for a second then dropped to the ground twitching feverishly. The strange fog dissipated and Seto found himself shaking his head wondering what the hell just happened. He glanced over at Yuugi, about to ask if he was okay, but to his shock he saw the smaller boy's knees buckle and he crumpled down towards the floor. Seto managed to sprint over to the other side and catch Yuugi before he crashed to the ground. The small boy was breathing, "Kaiba-san, is –is it over? What? What just happened?" 

            "Yeah, it's over," Seto said seeing Spencer running down from the sound booth. Her hair was flying out behind her, and she took the stairs two at a time. "I don't really know. But I think I know someone who does." 

* * *

            Liz raced towards the ring, her face flushed from the fight, and she looked worried. She hurried up to the raised platform and said with Kaiba in unison, "Are you okay? No I asked you first!" 

            "I'm okay. Few bruises," Seto said –then nodded to Yuugi. "Him on the other hand…" 

            Liz bent over Yuugi and pulled out a wet napkin from her purse. She gently wiped his brow saying softly, "He's exhausted. We better get out of here before someone comes." 

            "Fine," Seto said, picking up the limp Yuugi. "I'll drive." 

            "What?" Liz said in a tone of shock. He was in no condition to drive, he'd just been gang jumped by at least twenty guys. "Why you?" 

            "Because your driving sucks and I don't think you're in any state to handle the wheel," he looked down at her bruised and bloodied hands. "Cut them on some teeth, huh." 

            Liz looked slightly sheepish, and was about to come back with something when Yuugi let out a groan and both she and Seto looked at him. 

            "Liz-chan," he said weakly and Liz gently hushed him dabbing his face. He pushed her hand away and said, his eyes still full of light, "I want to join. If I can stop creeps like Urshio from hurting people –like my friend Mayumi's brother –then I'll join." 

            "Then welcome aboard, Yuugi. You've just become our second Angel," Liz said softly to Yuugi, who closed his eyes and slipped into darkness. Seto wheeled on his heels and shifted Yuugi slightly to get a better grip on him, then headed for the door. Liz followed and stopped when she heard a whistled tune. 

            "Wait," Liz shouted and Seto stopped. 

            "What?" he said, and then heard the song too. "Huh? What is that?" 

            Liz's eyes scanned the rafters; the melody was one she knew all too well. Her lips mouthed the words as the whistler played out the last note. "Green Sleeves twas my delight. Green Sleeves was my heart and joy; Green Sleeves twas my delight. Who but my lady Green Sleeves?" 

            Seto saw for the first time a flash of fear in her eyes, but that was replaced quickly with a look of hope –and something deeper then that. Longing, very powerful and very strong. 

            "Where are you?" Liz shouted to the whistler, _Please show yourself, let me know your there. Please._

            There was not reply. Seto turned fast when he heard one of the bloodied crew members groan, and saw him flop over onto his back. 

            "Damn, they're waking up," Seto hissed and kicked Liz lightly in the leg to wake her from whatever spell the tune had placed her under. "Come on. Let's go." 

            He whisked past her and Liz rubbed her leg, followed and muttered, "Who the hell does he think is the leader here?!" 

            However her mind kept playing the whistled tune in her ear and she couldn't help but look back for a second hoping to see –what –she had no clue. But sadly al that was there was shadows. 

* * * 

            Bakura spat again on the dead man's body. A few minutes before he had been bending over the same corpse, hurling his guts out. The Yami no Game that Yuugi had used against his opposition had sent a wave of nausea through his host's body and turned his mind inside out sending him flying dangerously close to the edge of the darkness. He had gotten up just in time to see Spencer wipe Yuugi's brow. He looked in better shape then Bakura thought he would. Bakura sneered ever so slightly at the trio and said, "How quaint. Like a prizefighter's management team. Even got the scarecrow to carry him." 

_            Ugh. I feel horrible, and did you have to throw up on that man? _

_            **Well excuse me! Do you see anywhere else I could have?**_

_No, but what exactly happened just now? I've never seen you get sick before._

**A massive excessive discharged wave of dark energy, that's what. If not used carefully it can fully destroy a body from the inside. You become soup and it oozes your inners out of the holes in your body. It can send shock waves to other's that have keys that allow them to access the same powers. That's why the sudden pain. **

**            _I see. So he's just set off what would be…_**

            **The equivalent of several atomic blasts, mentally. Shit, it's like a four-day hangover! Hold on? Where the hell are they going. They can't leave yet, Damnit! Ugh! **

_What's wrong? What's wrong with my body?_

**            Ha, I knew you cared about me. **

**            _The hell I do! I want to know what's wrong with my body! _**

_            **Still too much energy around. Switch for the time. **_

**            _Fine._**

In an instant Bakura traded places with his host. Casually he glanced over the edge and watched as Spencer and Seto took care of the injured Yuugi. He caught the last words of Spencer congratulating Yuugi, as he read her lips. Sighing he leaned onto the railing. "So they got to him too. Bravo Spencer. I knew you would." 

            He sighed again; surely knowing this fact was enough for him to realize that they were starting up a new team. He scowled some, and then smirked. If his counterpart could play mind games, why couldn't he too? Besides he wanted to see her face. So he began to whistle. It was a song that he'd known since he was a toddler. His mother had taught him that song, and surely she would remember the significance behind it. He was right. She did, and she had paused in her tracks when she heard it. When he caught sight of her face he thought of how she still looked so innocent after all the time that had passed. For an instant he thought of calling out to her –but the tall fool carrying Yuugi –this Seto Kaiba as he had been told –broke the moment by kicking her in the leg. Bakura made a mental note to break that leg, and the other, the next time he met Kaiba. He watched as Spencer quickly followed and let out an aggravated yell. 

            **Heheheh, troubled by her again?******

_I'm not! I gave up those dreams a long time ago. Now switch with me._

_            **But I thought you liked being out.**_

**            _I changed my mind. _**

            In a flash Bakura took over his host's body and looked down at the scene below. Urshio was still twitching, but some of his crew was up and about. 

            "Might as well go down and make some new friends," He said and leapt onto another catwalk across from the first. Then slid down a wire rigging –much to his host's protests –and let go dropping, with cat like skill, landing on his feet and placing his right hand out, touching the floor with the tips of his fingers for balance. He grinned, stood up, and slowly walked over to Urshio as if he was just out for a causal stroll around the park. Several of the boys were over by their leader uttering words of worry and fear. 

            "Come on get up Urshio!" 

            "What's wrong with him?"

            "Should we call an ambulance?" 

            "What, and have the cops come here? Are you fucking crazy?" 

            "Perhaps I could be of assistance, Gentlemen," Bakura said and the crew looked up at him with suspicion. 

            "Who the hell are you?" one said and Bakura lazily pulled out his deck. 

            "I am an ally that you don't wish to cross. Now move," he shoved two larger boys aside and bent over Urshio. **Impressive –he didn't kill him. Ah well, there's time to rectify that mistake, but for now…**

Bakura pulled a card from his deck –**Perfect. Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams. Now this should do the trick. He'll have a good time with this one. **Bakura opened his jacket and a gold ring with several spikes that hung around his neck and down to his chest, slipped free. He held the card out before him and closed his eyes. Just then one of the boys grabbed him by his shoulder and shouted. 

            "Just what do you think you're doing?" 

            This was the boy's biggest mistake. If there was one thing that Bakura hated it was when people touched him with out permission, if there was another is was people questioning him; Combined –a person had a better chance out running a tidal wave then avoiding his wrath. Bakura swung around and caught the boy in the pelvis with a solid sidekick, then he twisted the boys leg and broke it with a dull crack. 

            **There, you got a broken leg.**

**            _This isn't the person who I wanted it to happen to! _**

_            **Whatever, you are a nitpicker you know that. **_

**            He stepped purposely onto the boy's broken leg, and twisted his heel into the cracked bone. The boy let out a howl as pain shot through his body like a bolt of jagged hot white lighting. **

            "Three things to remember! Never question me, and never touch me. And most defiantly do not do both at the same time. Lest you loose more then just a leg next time." –Bakura stepped off him and the boy whimpered clutching is useless leg. He walked back over by Urshio and stated, "For the record, I was trying to help your friend here; unless you want him to remain in a place where he will be driven insane." 

            The boys shook their heads and Bakura smirked, thinking; **_Although_****_, the place I'm going to send him isn't exactly _****_Disneyland_****_, either. _Again he stood over Urshio's body and held the card out before himself, and closed his eyes. In a moment the gold ring began to glow with an eerie internal light. It erupted, sending out waves of light and wind all over Bakura's body, battering his white mane as it did so. A large wave of dark energy coursed over his arm and near his hand. Bakura's face was taught with concentration, his brow glistened with sweat, and then the strange dark energy shot out of the card and enveloped Urshio's body, and he stopped convulsing, then lay very still. To the boys it looked like he was dead, but Bakura knew better and grinned almost lovingly at the card in his hand. Could he pocket Green Sleeves in this manner he would have long ago, but his host had threatened to jump off the nearest bridge, sending them both to hell, if he even dared to try it. Of course in her case he would pick the nicest card he had in his deck, which there really wasn't one. **

            "Wh –Why did you kill him? I thought you were going to help him?" asked one boy kneeling down by Urshio's still body. Bakura shook his head and laughed. 

            "Oh I did, I saved him from a hell that there is no escape from. And he's alive," he grinned like a skeleton at the boys. "But if you want your leader back you'll have to work for me, now." 

            'The hell we will! Right, boys," said the instigator –several heads nodded in agreement. Bakura figured he would have fun punishing this upstart. "We work only for Urshio!" 

            "Heh, oh really," laughed Bakura. The boys moved back as his laughter turned loud and cruel. "Well, if that's true then you must understand this one thing," –he held up the card to Urshio's crew who gasped in horror at what they saw. Bakura smirked; Urshio's face loomed out at the boys from the card, with a look of absolute terror. Behind him a green skeletal ghost, with a long sword, was aiming to run their boss through –"As you can plainly see, he works for me now. And I'm sure you'll be a good bunch of lap dogs and follow my orders, or I'll burn this card with you leader's soul, still trapped inside, and send him to the land of the dead." 

            "Hi –his soul," squeaked the upstart, and when Bakura nodded, the boy fainted. Bakura laughed as the others tried desperately to wake their fellow gang member up.  

            "That's right, and if you don't listen to my orders, men. You'll be next." 

            He cackled as the boys started to bow to him saying, "Yes Master. Yes." 


	9. Chapter 8: The Third Angel

Crawford's Angels

            Disclaimer: Sorry I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Charlie's Angels –Thank you very much Mr. Arron Spelling sir, and Mr. Kazuki Takahashi. *Sigh* ^_^ Ah well…

            Author's notes: Just for the record, the pinky action that Yuugi made at Haga (Weevil) is an actual gesture in Japan used by young men to indicate some…er…action between them and their girlfriend. Usually it's used when they say, "Dude, I have my girl over here…know what I mean." So that's why Haga got so pissed at Yuugi. Secondly I'm making this a shorter chapter so I can get into Jou's story. Been too long, and I can't wait to write it. ^_^ By the way thank you all for the lovely reviews. 

Okay then, on with the show. 

Chapter 8: The Third Angel

            "Ow," Yuugi yelped the following morning as Kaiba swabbed a large cut on his brow with some disinfectant. Seto frowned and snorted. 

            "Well, if you stopped wiggling it wouldn't hurt so much," he slapped a Band-aid on Yuugi and then picked up the first aid kit. "At least that's taken care of, now to make sure Spencer didn't rip off hers…And get something to eat. Or do I need to make breakfast for you too?" 

            Yuugi watched as the tall boy left the front room and headed up the staircase for the bedrooms. He really didn't remember much from the previous night, only what Seto had told him. He remembered Ushio showing up with his goons, and that he and Seto were supposed to duel. That Ushio's crew had surrounded them and that –somehow –the two of them, Seto and himself, had managed to keep from getting killed. Then something strange happened. Ushio had come down and was beating him up, and all Yuugi could remember next was a bunch of screaming and then darkness. Utter, desolate, and freezing cold, darkness. Kaiba said that he, Yuugi, had told Ushio he wanted to play a game –whatever that meant –and that some weird black fog had engulfed the entire arena. Ushio, according to Kaiba, had gone crazy and had attacked Yuugi, and then Yuugi had said something to him, like 'Mind Crush', and that Ushio had fallen to the ground twitching. 

            Sighing, Yuugi slumped back on the couch and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. He remembered waking up that morning to find Kaiba sleeping in a chair in his bedroom; to say the least he was shocked to see this. He thought Kaiba didn't like him at all. Apparently this wasn't the case. Yuugi had slipped out of bed and poked the tall teenager to see if he was still asleep. When he did so Kaiba made a noise that was a cross between a snort and a sniffle, and Yuugi chuckled. He figured that Seto was still sleeping and slowly opened the door. What he wanted to do was call his mom and grandpa and let them know he was okay. 

           _They're probably worried sick, he thought as he pulled open the door, it made a small click as he turned the handle. _

            "And where do you think you're going?" Yuugi looked back to see Kaiba, wide awake, with his lids lowered and scowling. "You're supposed to stay in bed. Spencer's orders and I'm not going to get my ass reamed out because you decided to slip off." 

             "Huh?" Yuugi was slightly confused and Seto rolled his eyes. 

            "Spencer, the girl with the brown hair, the one that gave you the card, remember." 

            Yuugi shook his head, rattling his brain. It was hard to think on an empty stomach, and feeling like you were used as someone's punching bag. Seto scowled again, and Yuugi gulped, he wasn't helping anything by not remembering. 

            "Liz-chan," Seto finally said and it clicked in Yuugi's mind. 

            "Oh," he smiled and chuckled. "Sorry, must have slipped my mind for a minute there. Um, how is she. I kinda remember hearing you say something about her hands bleeding? She is alright, isn't she?" 

            Seto huffed, _her own damn fault she cut her fists up, not mine_. But he nodded just the same and Yuugi's grin widened. He was glad that Ushio had not hurt her. Seto stood up, stretched, he'd been sleeping in the room since five that morning, and the previous night he'd dumped Yuugi in bed. Walking over to the window he drew back the dark curtains and let some light in the room, then glanced over Yuugi. His scowl disappeared and his brow furrowed slightly at what he saw. Yuugi had several cuts on his face, most were small and had scabbed over, but a large one on the forehead looked rather bad, and was turning red. 

            _Infected, Seto thought and Yuugi looked at him puzzled. _

            "What's the matter Kaiba-kun?" 

            Seto sighed, and grabbed Yuugi by the arm, pulled him out of the bedroom and down the stairs into the front room. 

            "Wait here," he told Yuugi, and slipped out into the kitchen, only to return a moment later with a small white box with a red cross on the top. 

            "A first aid kit," Yuugi asked, and looked up at Kaiba. "What for?" 

            "For that cut on you're forehead," Kaiba had said and had proceeded to fix it. He'd done it several times with Mokuba, when his little brother had hurt himself. And, like Yuugi, he was a wiggler when it came to putting on stuff that stung. When he felt a bit better, Yuugi got up and wandered into the kitchen. The house that he was in was quite big, not huge like a mansion, but bigger then any house he'd ever been inside before. The floors were all hardwood, and the furniture was all custom- made with leather, or some rich velvety material, and looked really expensive. All the walls were painted with fancy decorations and small gold flowers as borders. The kitchen was just as impressive, with the latest stove and refrigerator, all shiny and new. Yuugi pulled out a container of orange juice and found a glass in the cabinets, and sat down to drink. 

            _BEEEEEEEPPPPPP DEEEEPPPP BEEEEEEPPPP DEEEEEEPPPPP, the sound rang out all over the room and Yuugi covered his ears. _

            **Aibou****, what is that horrid noise?!__**

_            I don't know, Hitori No boku! But it's gotta be coming from somewhere nearby. _

**Well please hurry and find it, because it's starting to hurt my head. **

            Yuugi swiftly searched the room and discovered a laptop computer hiding under several books. He pulled it out and opened it, the noise stopped and a black screen with a strange line showed up. The line kept changing colors: red, green, pink, blue, yellow, purple, white, and back to red again. Yuugi watched it for a moment or two, unsure of what to make of it, when a voice suddenly came out and made the line vibrate. 

            "Ah, Yuugi, just the boy I wanted to speak with," said the strange computer enhanced voice. "I'm glad you're up. Spencer told me about you –um –late night activities. I was worried that you were seriously hurt. You are alright, aren't you?" 

            "Um, yes," Yuugi replied, staring at the vibrating line. "Uh…pardon me, I don't mean to sound rude, or anything, but…um, exactly who are you?" 

            The voice laughed, it was a strange sort of warm chuckle, but it gave Yuugi a slight chill. He wondered if the laugh would really sound creepy if the voice was not happy. "Forgive me for not introducing myself right away. I was going to greet you last night, but after the events…well you needed your rest. I'm Charles, the head of the Angels organization." 

            Yuugi's eyes widened, "You're the guy in charge of all this?" 

            "That's right, and I'm very happy to have you on board," Charles told him warmly. "I was hoping to speak with your other half for a moment or two; I have something I want to say to him. But first, how do you like your surroundings? We have a pool, and a tennis court, all sorts of videogames, and the best internet connection money can buy." 

            "That's nice and all," Yuugi said politely, he was very nervous and wondered,_ Gee this guy is strange_, "but I'm not use to having a pool and so many things. I mean, it's like a hotel, I'm afraid I might wreck something." 

            Charles laughed again; Yuugi was a breath of fresh air compared to many others's he had to work with. The boy was so innocent it was amusing to Charles; he just hoped that young Yuugi would stay that way in the trials ahead. "Yuugi, my good boy, I want you to know that this house is your home. You have free reign to do whatever you want. Go wild, jump on the bed, if you want to, go skinny dipping for all I care. It's your home now." 

            "Really?" Yuugi asked, then blushed, there was no way he was going to go skinny dipping. Not a chance. "Thank you very much." 

            "Now," said Charles, "Would you mind if I spoke to your other half please." 

            "I guess so, but let me see if he wants to talk to you." 

            "Very well, I'll wait." 

            _Hitori__?___

**Yes Aibou? I'm here. What is it? **

_Um, this man named Charles, he…he wants to talk to you._

**About what?**** The spirit was confused, why did this Charles want to talk with him? **

            _I don't know, but he really seems to want to talk to you. I think it might be important._

**Very well, but only for a short amount of time; I feel rather worn out. **

_I know what you mean. Yuugi shifted with his Hitori no Yuugi and the second version of Yuugi stared at the screen and crossed his arms. _

            "So you wanted to talk to me," he said in his deeper voice. From where he was sitting Charles saw the change and smiled. The boy had mastered that part, that was a good thing, and this spirit seemed kinder –though still cold like the one Charles had first met only a few years before. He smiled, hoping that his voice would sound warm, he had a feeling that **this** Yuugi would be a bit harder to handle. 

            "Yes that I did. You'll have to excuse the blunt nature of this conversation, as I have a limited time due to an appointment that I have in fifteen." 

            "Very well, say your piece then." Yuugi waited and looked at the screen with no expression to his face. Charles scowled a little; it was going to be a hard sell. 

            "I wanted to talk to you about the game you played last night, do you remember it?" 

            "Some what, yes." 

            "Good, because I want you to know, I know what that game is, and what it does." 

            "Do you," smirked the Spirit, "then you'll have no problem with me telling you that I'm not surprised that you know. So who are you really?" 

            "As I told your better half; my name is Charles and I'm the head of this organization." 

            "If that's the way you want it," the Spirit rolled his eyes and Charles frowned. He did not particularly dislike this spirit, but he felt that this was a wall that the ghost put up to keep other's from prying too deep. Well two could play at that game.

            "You doubt me?"          

            "No, I don't doubt that that is who you want to be known as, but that is not who you really are." 

            "Then tell me, who am I really, if you honestly know." Charles challenged him. Once more the Spirit smiled, he liked egging on this man, yet he knew by the tone of voice the man wasn't trying to do him any harm. 

            "In due time, now tell me what you know of the game that I played." 

            "Simply," Charles said slowly, "that it is a game of shadows, and that it creation came about three thousand years ago during the high rule era of Egyptian Royalty, King Amonhotep the III and such. The game that you played is a game of shadows that taps into a dark realm on a different plane. Some call it hell, I prefer the term Shadow Realm, since it's not technically hell after all. I've termed it Yami no Games, or Games of Darkness. This is what I know of the actual games themselves: that in the years of their existence several people controlled creatures with their own life force, or Kaa. Naturally if the creatures were hurt, the person suffered the pain. However most of the information about these games has been lost." 

            "And you want me to tell you what I know of them, since you seem to think I have a connection to them, correct?" Hitori no Yuugi said, and scowled, "Quite frankly I don't think I want to tell you anything at all. How do I know I can trust you?" 

            "Well, in the first place, I know that you are the spirit of an Egyptian Pharaoh," Charles said smoothly with a smile to his face. Yuugi's scowl deepened, he didn't like the fact that this man knew that about him and so much about the games. He, himself, knew very little about his past, only that he was once Royalty and that had taken a full year to discover. And, only a scant few months ago he had learned of some power that was growing stronger within him. So it made him nervous that this stranger knew more to the past then he did.  

            "And how do you know this?" 

            Charles smirked, "Let's say we have a common connection Yuugi. One that I think will interest you. But for now let me tell you what I know of the item that you wear. It's called the Sennen Puzzle." 

            "This I already know," shouted Yuugi who was becoming agitated by Charles. He did not need to be told what he had already learned from Yuugi's grandfather. 

            "Wait, let me finish before you send those rocket like spike of yours into orbit," Charles said calmly. "You see I know what it is because I have a small scroll here that talks about some Sennen items, and your puzzle is listed here. The problem for me is this, apparently there are seven of these, but the scroll does not list them. I know of four in existence: a ring, a rod, your puzzle and an eye; all of which are connected to a very dark past that deals with you, my dear young Prince. I have been studying this scroll since I first acquired it from a dear friend of mine, lost to me for several years now, in the hopes that I could understand the reasons of its larger significance." 

            "So why tell me all this," asked Yuugi who lowered his eyes. 

            "Because I believe that with your help I can finally solve this riddle and unlock whatever it is that these items do," Charles explained to him. Yuugi's scowl deepened and he shook his head. 

            "You should not temper with items when you have no idea what they are capable of doing, Charles," He leaned back in his chair. "A story that I read, thanks to my Aibou points this out to me. It's called Pandora's box, and a woman who was too eager to see what was inside a beautiful box unleashed thousands of plagues upon the world. Even though she knew she shouldn't look, she did so, and wound up being a bringer of destruction."

            "I know of the legend, Yuugi," said Charles calmly. "I also know that at the end she locked up hope, for the fact is, so long as hope is locked up there is still hope in the world. Yuugi, understand something, I do not wish to use these items for my own gain. I have seen what happens to people who do that, and lord knows that they have cost me much even in my young life. However, there are other's who seek out these items, and wish to use them for their own gain. That is why I want your help. In return I promise I will do all that I can to find your past and give you a full understanding of your life." 

            "And what are you appealing to me with," asked Yuugi, his scowl was replaced by a look of curiosity. 

            "Your sense of justice," Charles said and Yuugi shook his head. "Then your honor. I wish to make these items a use to all humanity, not just me, or a small contingent of people. And, if they truly are evil, then I wish to eliminate them so that none can use them against those that I love and care for. I'm sure you can understand this honor that I speak of." 

            Yuugi nodded, "Yes, I believe I can. But this is Yuugi's choice and not mine." 

            "He's already said yes, I wish I had your approval as well," Charles said. "After all, there are two of you. Two separate minds, and hearts, only one body, and I'd rather know I've got both of you on my side, rather then have you reluctantly dragged along." 

            "Then allow me a moment to confer with my partner." Yuugi said and closed his eyes. 

            **Aibou****, have you been listening?**

_Yeah, I have._

**And, is this something you really want to do? Do you truly trust this man?**

_I trust that he really believes in what he is doing, and that he's trying to do it for a good reason and not for his own gain; if that's what you mean._

**Then this is what you really want to do?**

_Very much so, yes.___

**Alright then.******

Yuugi opened his eyes again, and nodded, "I'll accept your offer as well, Charles, but only if you agree to make sure that my partner is safe. Is that clear?" 

            "Of course," Charles said pleased as punch. "He'll be going through training to strengthen his mind and body. Did you really think I would let him out with no training whatsoever?" –Charles glanced at his clock and quickly said –"Whoops, time's up. Thank you again for agreeing to work with me Yuugi and Hitori no Yuugi. I assure you that we will both benefit from this deal." 

            As the computer and the vibrating line vanished little Yuugi took back over his body and the spirit wondered, **exactly who will benefit the most though?**

* * *

            Seto stalked up stairs, and shook his head. He was still sleepy from the night before, and knew he should take a nap. But that wasn't his style; no his body was just going to have to deal with feeling sleepy because his mind refused to rest. He paused outside Spencer's bedroom. The night before when they had gotten out to the convertible he had slipped Yuugi into the back seat, and Spencer was about to follow when he'd grabbed her by the wrists. 

            "What's your problem," she yelped, and he held up her hands to the light from the parking lot lights. They were bruised and bleeding in several places. And, if he was not mistaken, there was scaring from where similar wounds had occurred. Seto frowned at her. 

            "My problem is that you worried me sick," she looked surprised at this comment, and he added, "and no it's not because I like you, it's because if you baled on me, I might not ever get a chance to find my little brother." 

            "I see," she said sarcastically. "No, thank you for getting those jerks off your back, back there?" 

            "I don't see a reason for it," Seto retorted and reached into his pocket. "Had you been down there helping us in the first place, I wouldn't have been dog piled like that." 

            "Oh sure, blame me," she spat. 

            "I do," he replied and pulled out a handkerchief and ripped it in two. 

            "What are you doing?" she asked and he quickly wrapped her hands in the two torn halves.

            "Make shift bandages," he explained as he made a knot on top. "I had to do this more then once with Mokuba. He had a habit, like you, of getting scraped up." 

            She said nothing, and got into the car. The drive back was fast; Seto was going over the speed limit, but Spencer said nothing about that. Instead she was dabbing Yuugi's brow and Seto watched her face. It seemed very sad and far off. Finally, annoyed with the silence he asked, "How did you get those cuts anyway?" 

            "Three of Ushio's goons were in the sound booth," she explained looking out the window. "I think they were planning on messing with the system and making your ears bleed." 

            "Huh," Seto replied and they went back to being quiet, until, "How's he doing back there?" 

            "Sleeping," she said looking down at Yuugi. "And I'm glad. That fight…" 

            "Funny thing, what with the fog suddenly rolling in," Seto said calmly as if it was normal for purple fog to go rolling into areas on a daily occurrence. "Was that you?" 

            "No," she said, and tried to change the subject, but Seto was curious.

            "You think it was," he motioned with his eyes to Yuugi who was still sleeping. She said nothing and it made him frown. Spencer was covering for something, he could feel it. "So any idea what it was?" 

            "No," she said and looked out the window again. "Don't worry about it; it was a fluke, that's all." 

            "Bull, that wasn't any fluke." 

            "Fine have it your way, but I have no idea what it could have been, so just drop it." Her voice was sharp when she spoke so Seto decided now was not the time to press it. He'd get his answers soon enough. In the mean time he went on to the other matter that was bothering him. 

            "The song…what was it, something to do with Green Sleeves," he inquired and watched her body stiffen slightly at the mention of it. "You know what that's about?" 

            "It's a song written by King Henry of England to one of his lovers," Spencer explained. "It's been remade into a Christmas choral. Why do you want to know?" 

            "Because I thought it was weird that you acted like you were under a spell when you heard it," Seto said and watched as she looked to Yuugi as if trying to disguise her own emotions, it didn't work. 

            "A friend taught me that song. We were close, he's gone now." 

            "I see, so some one knows about that song. Any idea who was whistling it?"

            "Maybe," she was looking out the window again, and then shook her head. "Listen, its better that you not get involved it this matter okay. Just…just worry about the here and now, and not the past."  

            "Sounds more like you were just trying to remind yourself," Seto commented, as he pulled the car into the underground garage. Inside she ignored him, and he put Yuugi into the room that Spencer told him to. Then he went, and wrapped her hands up in regular bandages. What Seto was worried about was the fact that last night she had been very reluctant to bandage her hands, and he had to force her into doing it by threatening to drop her lap top into the pool. That had pissed her off enough to throw three eggs at his head; in return he wondered if she had ripped the wrappings off that morning. Kaiba knocked once at the door to her bedroom and went in when she didn't reply. And promptly walked back out shouting, "Spencer, Jeeze, you could have warned me…" 

            She had been sitting on her bed in a robe, with wet hair indicating she had just showered, and had the laptop propped on her legs. His face was red, when he peeked in again. She did not look up, but nodded when he spoke. "What the hell are you doing?" 

            "Took a shower, and then I started working." She said and scowled at him seeing he was holding the first aid kit. "And if you think I'm going to wrap my hands up again, you've got fewer brains in that thick head of yours then I first thought." 

            "And you're a comedic genius," Seto rolled his eyes, and pulled the laptop off her legs. 

            "Hey," she shouted and he tossed it onto her dresser, "watch it that's sensitive equipment." 

            "Turn them over," she looked at him puzzled and let out an exasperated sigh. With Yuugi squirming and her selective understanding he felt like a mother hen, "Your hands, Spencer. Turn them over so I can see how well they healed." 

            She reluctantly did so, and he smirked, "Well they look better." 

            "Oh joy, clean bill of health from the illustrious Dr. Kaiba," Spencer said dryly. "Now if you're done; I have work to do." 

            Seto shook his head, and gave her back her laptop, "Do you ever stop?" 

            "Only when I'm ready to pass out from hunger pain, thanks for asking though, really appreciate that you give a damn." She retorted and he slammed the door. 

            _What is with that…girl, anyway? He thought as he went back downstairs._

* * *

            "Hello Kaiba-kun," he held up the cereal box that he had pulled down. "Want some?" 

            "No," Seto said grabbing a banana, poured a cup of coffee and sat down to read the paper. He glanced up at Yuugi who was looking at him expectantly. "What?" 

            "Um, well I just…" 

            "Yeah? You just…what?" 

            Yuugi felt his face turning red under the intense gaze of Kaiba, "I just wanted to say…well thank you…for helping me last night and this morning." 

            "Oh," Seto said going back to the paper, "is that all. Whatever, not like I really had a choice, you were getting the crap beat out of you anyway." 

            Yuugi sighed, why did Kaiba dislike him so much? They ate in silence, and for Yuugi it was awful. At his house his mom and grandfather were always talking. Sometimes so much so that he wished they could be quiet for a change of pace. But now, it wasn't all that much fun. He hated it and wished that Kaiba would at least talk to him, even a little. Finally, tired of the stillness Yuugi said, "Kaiba-kun?" 

            "What?" he was still looking at the paper; his stocks were not as high as he would have liked them to be.

            "Um I was wondering," Yuugi said and Kaiba looked up from behind the newsprint. Yuugi quickly looked down into his bowl of cereal, that same intense, cold look was back and it made Yuugi feel very small and useless. 

            "Yeah, what now? And if you're going to say, you want me to kiss your forehead; you've got the wrong person…" 

            "No, nothing like that," Yuugi quickly shook his hands. "I just wanted to know why you quit playing in the tournaments, that's all."  

            "So that lame amateurs wouldn't get on my nerves," Kaiba said and went back to his reading. He glanced back, and saw that there was some hurt in the shorter boy's eyes. _Damn, he looks just like Mokuba when he gets upset. _ He added quickly, "Not that you're an amateur; I have to say I was impressed on how you handled yourself yesterday against Haga. Although I did beat him in less turns then you did, but still." 

            "You're bragging," Yuugi said smiling. 

            "I have a right to, I still am World Champion," Seto said with a smirk. 

            "I know, I watched the Championship on TV," Yuugi exclaimed. "I thought it was really cool how you managed to beat Keith Howard with the virus attack." 

            Seto looked up; he was taken aback by this. He didn't expect someone like Yuugi to remember that, but apparently it made an impression on him. "Really, that was what impressed you? Not the Ultimate Dragon?" 

            Yuugi nodded, "Yeah, that was what really impressed me. Not the Ultimate Dragon. See, the way I see it, it shouldn't matter if you have really weak monsters or really strong ones. You can have all the strong monsters that you want and still loose because your cards don't work together. But if you mix the right magic and trap cards with them…" 

            "Your deck becomes highly competitive and you're sure to win just about any match…where did you learn that, "Seto insisted and now it was Yuugi's turn to be surprised. He moved back from Kaiba who looked like he was ready to jump on him and shove him into a wall, his eyes bright with expectations. 

            "Um, well my grandfather taught me that," Yuugi explained. "You see he taught me just about everything I know." 

            "What's his name," Kaiba insisted, his eyes wide and Yuugi grinned nervously. 

            "Well, it's Sugoroku Mutou, but some people know him as Solomon…" 

            "What!" Seto was on his feet and Yuugi scooted back from the table. "You mean to tell me that your grandfather is the Solomon the Great? One of the best non tournament players ever to play Duel Monsters! Is that what you're telling me?" 

            "Yes," Yuugi squeaked and Seto sat down and let out a laugh. Yuugi slid back slowly as the taller boy shook his head and gave him a sideways smile. 

            "I should have known, what with your last name," Seto said to Yuugi, who looked genuinely staggered by Seto's comment. Realizing the look that Yuugi was giving him Seto added, "I've always admired your grandfather, Yuugi. It's actually a bit of a pleasure to meet someone who knows Solomon the Great. Why didn't you tell me this when you first saw me at school?" 

            "I didn't think that it was that important," Yuugi said, shrugging. "Besides, I wanted to make friends with you on my own, and have you like me for just me, not because I happen to have a famous Grandpa." 

            Seto tilted his head, "Why not? If I had him as a Grandfather, I'd brag about it to anyone who was in shouting distance." 

            "Maybe that's what's different about us Kaiba-kun," Yuugi said softly, "I don't like to brag and you do. I mean your rich and can have everything you want." 

            "Ha, if that were true I wouldn't be here," Seto waved his hand around. "You wanted to know why I quit dueling." –He pulled a card shaped locket from under his shirt and opened it to show Yuugi the picture of his little brother inside –"This is why. My brother Mokuba was kidnapped and I want to find him. That's why I quit so I could deal with that. I don't care about a game when my brother's life is on the line. That's what I'm doing here, that's why I vanished." 

            "Oh," it made perfect sense now to Yuugi and he looked at Kaiba saying, "Kaiba-kun, I want to help you." 

            "You what?" 

            "I said, I'd like to help you find your brother."   

            Seto snorted, "And exactly how is someone like you going to help me?" 

            "Well, I don't know yet," Yuugi admitted, "But I'll give it my best, that's what friends do for each other, they help each other out no matter how tough it seems. So I'm going to help you out because, because I want to be your friend, if I can Kaiba-kun." 

            Seto looked at him, and smirked, "You are one strange little guy Yuugi Mutou. But if you want to help, then alright, you can, I guess." 

            Yuugi gave him a happy grin, and for the first time in a long time Seto Kaiba returned a genuine smile, then talked Duel Monsters with his very first friend, Yuugi Mutou.  

* * * 

            Upstairs in her room Spencer was getting dressed when the computer screen blinked on to show Charles face. He cleared his throat, and she slipped back into her robe rather quickly in her bathroom. "Yes boss?" 

            "I see you're cheerful this morning," he glanced onto her hands. "What happened?" 

            "Bunch of low rent thugs decided they could take one small girl in a sound booth. I think I welded one guy's glasses to his face." 

            Charles shook his head laughing, _Typical_, he thought. Spencer was always going just a bit overboard when it came to attackers. He thought that she had calmed down over time, but apparently she was going back into the darker mode of fighting, something he hoped becoming the Task Master, of this little group would force her to stop doing. He smiled and said warmly to her, "So now you've gone and cut up your hands again. My poor little dear, always receiving the worse end of the stick, aren't you." 

            She smirked, "Not always. I broke one guy's nose and I think I cracked his jaw." 

            "That's not what I meant," he said looking deadpan at her, she chuckled. 

            "I know," her dememer became more business like, "And the reason you called is…" 

            "Firstly I'll have you know that I talked to Yuugi and his Hitori no Yuugi. So that's settled," Charles told her. "I expect you to give him his pin as soon as possible. I honestly hope that Yuugi and Seto will be able to work together." 

            Spencer sniffed, "I doubt it. Kaiba's cold, he's hard to get fix on emotionally; and Yuugi, well, it's over flowing. I don't think that kid has it in him to hate anyone."

            "Don't be so quick to judge, my dear," Charles told her. "I remember you telling me that at one time about a certain someone." 

            Spencer's look suddenly turned dark, "Please do not go there today, Boss. I don't want to hear it." 

            He frowned, "Something happen?" 

            "Sort of," she looked away then glanced back looking so sad Charles wished he was there to hold her, like he did when she was younger. "I heard the song again. And it wasn't just my imagination either. He's still around, he's back, and Kaiba heard it too." 

            "Liz," Charles said softly, "Please don't…" 

            "I know, I know, don't go thinking that he'll come back. But what if he has, what if I can bring him back. I have to at least try and find out. I have to know if he's okay. I'm not going to be able to just …forget. I'm not like you…I can't do that sort of thing, Charles," her eyes were wet and she blinked hard to stop the tears from flowing. She did not want to let him see her cry; she wouldn't put a guilt trip on him for what he had to do. But that did not mean that she didn't feel that he was somewhat at fault for all of it. Still, she would give her life for him, as she knew he would do the same for her. Charles looked at Spencer; he wished he could take all that pain away. He really wished she could understand that even now, his wife dead some nine years already, and he still had not gotten over her. He let out a light sigh, and cleared his throat before he spoke. 

            "You have a job to do, Spencer. I can't have you traipsing off on your own mission when these boys need to be fully trained. Once I'm satisfied that they can handle themselves, I'll allow you to go on your own mission. But, until that time, you have to stay focused. My question is this, did you physically see him there?" 

            "In the rafters," she shook her head. "No, but I'm sure that it was him. He's the only one that knew…" 

            "Several people know that song Spencer," Charles replied. "It doesn't mean that it was him. I know, dear one, that you wish it was, and so do I…you don't think I feel guilty for what happened. That if I could I would take it all back and stop it from occurring, but it did and he's gone, and we have a job to do, and you know this." 

            She nodded reluctantly, and Charles brought up a file for her to read, "Katsuya Jonouchi." 

            Spencer raised her eyebrow, "He looks like a street, a thug, a punk. Why do you want him?" 

            "Look at the file," He insisted and she read it quickly and then looked up puzzled. 

            "It says that he has a rap sheet, nearly was expelled at least twice from his Junior high-school, and apparently was once part of a local gang. Why the hell would you want that type of person on the team?" 

            "Didn't you ask something like that about Kaiba and Yuugi?" 

            "Yes, well," she back tracked with a huff. "I now understand Kaiba, and I get the reason for Yuugi…" 

            "Do you? Really," Charles mused, "or maybe you see why I wanted his other half. I have a reason for wanting Yuugi Mutou as well, Spencer." –He smiled when she gave him a pouting look –"Do you're self a favor and take Yuugi with you when you go to see Jonouchi today. I'm sure he will be most helpful." 

            "Um, why would that be?" she asked and Charles chuckled. _You have yet to see what that boy's true skills are __Elizabeth__. _

            "Just trust me on this one, he has talked with Katsuya, and I think it would be a good idea," Charles added ruefully to her and Liz slumped back on her bed. "That's all. Good luck." 

            He disappered from screen and Liz curled up on her bed, pushed the laptop to one side, and pulled out one drawer on her nightstand. Inside she found a gold ring on a chain, and took it into her fist, closed her eyes and took a nap, dreaming of the whistler and a happier time in her life. 

* * *

            By late afternoon Liz finally showed her fact to Seto and Yuugi, who were busy playing a stacking game. 

            "Damn," yelled Kaiba with a laugh, "how is it you keep winning?" 

            "I really don't know," Yuugi chuckled. 

            "Okay, two out of three, and this time, no trying to help me," Seto insisted. Liz came into the room with a queer look to her face. This was not expected, in fact a heard of wild dodo birds would have made more sense to her at the moment, then seeing Seto Kaiba and Yuugi Mutou playing a game like they had been best friends all their lives. Seto looked up and his face went back to its normal aloof look. "Oh, look who finally dragged herself down to be with her servants."  

            "Shut up," Spencer mumbled, and Yuugi smiled at her with a bright –"Good afternoon Liz-chan." 

            "Right," Liz replied. She was dressed in jeans and a black tank-top, and sneakers. Seto looked her over rather quickly, for a change she looked like a normal seventeen year old. She grabbed her purse and headed for the door calling over to Yuugi. "Hey, you want to get some food, I'm starving." 

            "Um, sure," Yuugi said. "Come on Kaiba-kun." 

            "Not hungry," Seto said coldly and glared at Liz who returned the gaze. Yuugi felt the tension and said hastily. 

            "Oh, well, um, then maybe we should stay home." 

            "No, go, I'll be fine," Seto commented clearing the game from the table. "I have some things to go over." 

            "Are you sure," Yuugi asked his new friend. He didn't want to leave Seto out of the fun, and he thought it would be a good idea to get him out of the house. But Seto shook his head and told him to go with Spencer. Yuugi noticed that, other then that one time that morning, Seto never called Liz by her first name, or used any polite suffixes when referring to her. In fact, at times, he seemed down right cold to her. In turn, Liz did not look at all happy, or the girl that had come into the Kame Game shop last Thursday. Yuugi wondered what was wrong with her. 

            "Ready to go," she asked, and he nodded. As they walked to the underground, and got into a new black Firebird, Yuugi said, "Liz-chan, where are we going?" 

            "Burger World, why?"

            "Well, can we please pick up Kaiba-kun some food; I think he would enjoy it." 

            For the first time that day, Yuugi saw Liz smile and she nodded, "Sure" –then paused and reached into her purse. –"Oh and one more thing, this is for you. It's your official pin." 

            Yuugi looked down at the small angel in the palm of his hand, and smiled. He felt like one of the luckiest guy's in the world. He had made a great new friend, and was about to go out and get hamburgers with a very nice, and pretty, young woman. 


End file.
